Zynga sues CityVille clone

Zynga has taken legal action on Vostu for allegedly copying the design and content of a number of its games.

The former claims its mega successful Facebook game CityVille has been replicated unashamedly by Brazilian firm Vostu in the form of MegaCity, reports TechCrunch.

Let’s be clear – it is one thing to be inspired by Zynga games, but it is entirely different to copy all of our key product features, product strategy, branding, mission statement and employee benefits lock, stock and barrel,” said Zynga’s Reggie Davis.

We welcome Vostu into the arena of social games, but blatant infringement of our creative works is not an acceptable business strategy – it is a violation of the law.”

Vostu has branded Zynga’s lawsuit as frivolous” and pathetic”.

Spokesperson for Vostu Davidson Goldin added: Zynga has been accused of copying so many games that it’s sadly lost the ability to recognise games like ours that are chock full of original content and have been independently created.

Vostu has 500 brilliant employees working night and day for online games that our 35m worldwide users enjoy. Zynga’s anti-competitive effort to bully us with a frivolous lawsuit – especially when we have some of the same key investors – is pathetic.

While Zynga plays games with the legal process we will continue focusing on using our substantial resources to create games that entertain our customers.”

It’s true Zynga has been sued by other game developers in the past, but it has settled all these cases. In February it settled a dispute with Digital Chocolate which claimed Zynga’s Mafia Wars had infringed copyright on one of its games.

Zynga’s HQ is based in San Francisco but it has nine offices in total worldwide.

You can compare screenshots of CityVille and MegaCity below:

Image courtesy of TechCrunch