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EA/Maxis Sue Zynga for Copyright Infringement

F

FlutterPuffs

Member
Culex said:
EA v. Edge has been going on for 3 years, so unless this is settled out of court, it's going to be REALLY long and expensive for both sides.
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Good news is this unlike the other cases when Zynga copied indie publishers, this might actually get good coverage by CNN, Reuters, et cetera.

Nothing like bad news to bring your stock prices down. I just hope EA hurts them so bad they won't be able to do this shit anymore.
 
C

Corto

Member
I'm conflicted. Can they both lose spectacularly? EA timing is nothing but perfect too. +10 HP for initiative.
 
F

Figboy79

Aftershock LA
Man, I really dislike EA, but Zynga is a cancer upon the mobile/social gaming world, and they should be stopped.

I'm glad that they are finally facing a foe that will not run out of lawyers and money to combat them.

Fuck Zynga.
 
D

D4Danger

Unconfirmed Member
If EA can set a precedent here the mobile game market is going to collapse overnight. 99% of it is just clones.
 
D

Delusibeta

Banned
Derrick01 said:
ToR is pretty much WoW in space. Or at least what WoW was 3-4 years ago. While obviously not a straight rip like Zynga it's a lot more than just a game "in the same genre".
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ibnNkSapzlzWaH.gif


This is a bit like arguing that Blizzard should sue Runic because Torchlight is a "cartoony Diablo": no shit Sherlock, they're in the same genre and share mechanics. Doesn't mean Blizzard can sue because you can't copyright mechanics. The difference here is that Zynga is essentually copying, pasting and lightly modifying games and then using the power of spam to get people to play the knock off. There shouldn't be a comparison between the two offences: one is just a decision to use antiquated mechanics, the other is outright fraud.
 
C

Chunky

Member
Jasoneyu said:
Im surpised that gameloft hasn't gotten sued for their blatent "inspired" copies.
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Ehhh, I don't think what Gameloft does is as bad as Zynga. GL copy games that don't exist on iOS, Zynga take the food right out of the original creators mouths.
Saying that, I don't particularly care about what Zynga does, since they tend to copy trashy, faux-games anyway.
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
tuffy said:
This nicely illustrates how calculated the rip-off job was. The handles on appliances are just a little bit different. The phone's a tiny bit larger. The floor's a slightly different color. It's all changed just enough to not be an exact copy, on purpose, so as to make a copyright suit difficult to win.

That's why I'm pessimistic about EA's chances, even as I applaud their effort.
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Very true.

Here's hoping, the Zynga cloners fucked up this time and didn't change quite enough details while copying to be legally scot-free, OR (and this would be the better case) the court recognises the ripoff for what it is despite Zynga's usual attempts to conceal the theft and create a precedent that helps stave off parasite companies like Zynga/Gameloft in the future.
 
J

Jac_Solar

Member
NateDrake said:
Today, on behalf of Maxis, EA filed a lawsuit against Zynga over their game, The Ville. I thought it would be useful to draft a post to explain the substance and background of this decision.

The core legal issue is our belief that Zynga infringed copyrights to our game, The Sims Social. In legal terms, our claim is that Zynga copied the original and distinctive expressive elements of The Sims Social in a clear violation of the U.S. copyright laws.

The legal reasons are solid. But for creative teams who feel that their hard work and imaginations have been ripped off, there’s obviously an emotional element too.

When we launched The Sims Social in August 2011, Maxis brought the distinctive universe of our world-renowned franchise, The Sims, to Facebook. We created a game that allowed players to create Sims that can interact with the Sims of their Facebook friends. It was an instant hit, gaining tens of millions of users, many of whom continue to play the game after nearly a year since launch.

As outlined in our complaint, when The Ville was introduced in June 2012, the infringement of The Sims Social was unmistakable to those of us at Maxis as well as to players and the industry at large. The similarities go well beyond any superficial resemblance. Zynga’s design choices, animations, visual arrangements and character motions and actions have been directly lifted from The Sims Social. The copying was so comprehensive that the two games are, to an uninitiated observer, largely indistinguishable. Scores of media and bloggers commented on the blatant mimicry.

This is a case of principle. Maxis isn’t the first studio to claim that Zynga copied its creative product. But we are the studio that has the financial and corporate resources to stand up and do something about it. Infringing a developer’s copyright is not an acceptable practice in game development. By calling Zynga out on this illegal practice, we hope to have a secondary effect of protecting the rights of other creative studios who don’t have the resources to protect themselves.

I’m certain there will be a response. Some will say The Ville simply iterates; some will tell us to get over it and move on. We are confident in our position, and that we will prevail.

But even if we do not, we will have made a point.

As a longstanding game developer, I know what it feels like to pour your heart and soul into creating something unique and special for your fans to enjoy. Today, we hope to be taking a stand that helps the industry protect the value of original creative works and those that work tirelessly to create them.

http://www.ea.com/news/eamaxis-sue-zynga-for-copyright-infringement
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Who are you, NateDrake? Are you EA? (Well, someone working for them or associated with them.) Just wondering since you posted it "in first person" and without using a quote field.
 
Bitmap Frogs

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
Jac_Solar said:
Who are you, NateDrake? Are you EA? (Well, someone working for them or associated with them.) Just wondering since you posted it "in first person" and without using a quote field.
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I got that impression too...

Does EA officially copypasta their press releases on neogaf now?
 
D

Dingotech

Member
Hopefully this sets a precedent regarding iOS developers blatantly copying other games, or even ripping assets out of other games completely and re-using them!!
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Curufinwe said:
No one's going to confuse you for phisheep, but uh... nice try.
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I don't even know who phisheep is, nor do I particularly care. But it doesn't seem to me like Zynga copied anything that was copyrightable... or at least, not so much of that copyrightable expression that they could be taken to task for it. If Zynga's bullshit was copyright infringement, then companies like Gameloft would've been sued into oblivion years ago.
 
C

cpp_is_king

Member
Chacranajxy said:
I don't even know who phisheep is, nor do I particularly care. But it doesn't seem to me like Zynga copied anything that was copyrightable... or at least, not so much of that copyrightable expression that they could be taken to task for it. If Zynga's bullshit was copyright infringement, then companies like Gameloft would've been sued into oblivion years ago.
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By who? The games that tend to get copied the most are the ones that don't have a lot of funds to throw behind a massive lawsuit
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
cpp_is_king said:
By who? The games that tend to get copied the most are the ones that don't have a lot of funds to throw behind a massive lawsuit
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They copied Halo, Uncharted, Call of Duty, and plenty of others. If the companies behind those franchises don't have the funds, then I don't know who does.
 
M

Margalis

Banned
The funny thing about Zynga is that they have guys like Brian Reynolds and Soren Johnson working in high level design positions making what are ostensibly strategy games - something that should in theory be exciting. You have to wonder what those guys do at work every day.

If people haven't done so they should read the interview Gamasutra did with Brian Reynolds right after the Tiny Tower stuff happened.
 
M

markot

Banned
How do the employees feel though? I imagine lots of them went into game dev for a reason, to make games... instead they are just slightly altering art and shit and copying other devs >_<

Zynga is so damn awful. I hope they go bankrupt.

Well, monetarily bankrupt, they are already creatively and morally bankrupt.
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Margalis said:
The funny thing about Zynga is that they have guys like Brian Reynolds and Soren Johnson working in high level design positions making what are ostensibly strategy games - something that should in theory be exciting. You have to wonder what those guys do at work every day.

If people haven't done so they should read the interview Gamasutra did with Brian Reynolds right after the Tiny Tower stuff happened.
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I imagine that Pincus has put them in roles where they're not actually allowed to do anything. It doesn't matter how much talent the guy buys from other companies -- he will squander it.
 
C

cpp_is_king

Member
Chacranajxy said:
They copied Halo, Uncharted, Call of Duty, and plenty of others. If the companies behind those franchises don't have the funds, then I don't know who does.
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Not even close to the same extent. The core issue, I believe, is that they have created a clone so similar that it could be quite literally indistinguishable to people. You can focus on little details about how the floor color is different, the handle placement is different, and all these other things, but this is the first example I can think of where people in masse could literally be confused about whether or not two games were the same actual game or not. Doing that is explicitly forbidden under copyright law, you cannot create a creative work so similar to another work that it becomes indistinguishable from the original.
 
B

beje

Banned
Zynga is even advertising the game using facebook ads as "better than The Sims", using blatantly the IP name and it really catched my eye and now I know what this crap is about. Cannot get a screengrab as I'm on my phone right now though. This cancer needs to stop.
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
cpp_is_king said:
Not even close to the same extent. The core issue, I believe, is that they have created a clone so similar that it could be quite literally indistinguishable to people. You can focus on little details about how the floor color is different, the handle placement is different, and all these other things, but this is the first example I can think of where people in masse could literally be confused about whether or not two games were the same actual game or not. Doing that is explicitly forbidden under copyright law, you cannot create a creative work so similar to another work that it becomes indistinguishable from the original.
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I dunno... Gameloft's stuff hues pretty closely to the originals. Look at Blades of Fury:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx2-C6wlAQY

That is Soul Calibur. Most of Gameloft's dreck is like that, yet, they get away with it on a regular basis. I don't see Zynga's copying being particularly different. Yes, their games are extremely close, and yes, there's obviously evidence they had "access" to EA's game... but does it steal enough from the game to warrant copyright infringement? Well, given what seems to be acceptable in this industry... probably not.

Which is a shame. I hate Zynga, and I hate Gameloft. I hope their companies merge and then both get fucked in the ass against their will.
 
S

StudioTan

Hold on, friend! I'd love to share with you some swell news about the Windows 8 Metro UI! Wait, where are you going?
Chacranajxy said:
I dunno... Gameloft's stuff hues pretty closely to the originals. Look at Blades of Fury:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx2-C6wlAQY

That is Soul Calibur. Most of Gameloft's dreck is like that, yet, they get away with it on a regular basis. I don't see Zynga's copying being particularly different. Yes, their games are extremely close, and yes, there's obviously evidence they had "access" to EA's game... but does it steal enough from the game to warrant copyright infringement? Well, given what seems to be acceptable in this industry... probably not.

Which is a shame. I hate Zynga, and I hate Gameloft. I hope their companies merge and then both get fucked in the ass against their will.
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Just because Gameloft hasn't been sued yet doesn't mean what they're doing it right either.
 
T

Tagg9

Member
bone_and_sinew said:
I don't know which of these two is the lesser evil.
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Which company has produced original games that you have bought? I can't imagine you'd answer Zynga. EA is a lot of things, but they don't solely profit off of copying the ideas and creativity of others.
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
StudioTan said:
Just because Gameloft hasn't been sued yet doesn't mean what they're doing it right either.
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No, but I figure that given how many times Gameloft has completely ripped off a competitor and not been sued indicates that the publisher of the original title realizes they don't have a particularly good case. Zynga's not much worse as far as their copycat antics go.
 
C

Corto

Member
Ok, I made up my mind. Destroy Zynga and let Burt Reynolds and Soren Johnson go to Stardock or start a new independent strategy dev team. GO EA!
 
Z

Zizbuka

Banned
I guess there's no corporate class action like lawsuit, where this lawsuit can include some of the smaller devs? That would be sweet justice.
 
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