The judge granted an injunction against Brazilian game developer Vostu for copying Zynga’s games.
Zynga doesn’t necessarily have the best track record when it comes to ethical practices in developing its games. But one thing the social games maven will not stand for is some upstart Brazilian company copying Zynga’s tried and true gaming formula. Well, that and several blatant ripoffs of Zynga’s aesthetic and user interface in games like MegaCity , Minifarm and PetMania. After Zynga leveled a lawsuit against Vostu for the copyright infringment, a spokesman for the Brazilian company fired back that Zynga was just as guilty of theft. A federal judge in Brazil didn’t see it that way, and has imposed an injunction against Vostu for it to remove hosting of four games in 48 hours or pay R20,000 (about $13,000) each day they are left up.
“There is likelihood in the plaintiff’s claims, which can be inferred by the case’s record documents, by the similarity of the games as well as being present the periculum in mora, I grant the preliminary injunction, determining that the defendants stop the use, exhibition, edition, reproduction, distribution, sale, offer for sale, broadcast or distribution, assignment or transference of the videogames Mega City, Café Mania, Pet Mania and Poke,” wrote Tribunal de Justiça do Estado de São Paulo.
There’s been no response as yet from Vostu and the games still seem to be operational via Orkut. Weirdly enough, Zynga also included Google as a defendant in a lawsuit due to Orkut hosting Vostu’s games. The weird part is that Google owns shares in Zynga; being sued by the people in whom you invest can’t be a good thing.
Source: TechCrunch
Published: Aug 4, 2011 06:52 pm