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Zynga sues developer for copying games

Brazilian developer Vostu accused of "blatant copyright infringement"

FarmVille creator Zynga has filed a lawsuit against social games developer Vostu, alleging "blatant copyright infringement" of a number of its games.

The lawsuit alleges that Vostu has created "near-identical games" and has been engaged in copying "Zynga's specific business model and product strategy, including accessing, copying and using Zynga's copyrights".

Zynga claim that the similarities run so deep that Vostu's titles even have the same bugs as Zynga's games.

The full text of the lawsuit provides numerous visual examples of the similarity between Zynga and Vostu's games, which are striking.

The text also makes connections between the two company's logos and even their mottos, with Zynga's famous "Connecting the world through games" contrasted with Vostu's mission statement "to bring you closer to the people around you through games".

Speaking to website TechCrunch, Zynga's Reggie Davis claimed that, "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."

Zynga itself has often been accused of copying ideas from other developers, a fact which Vostu referred to in a statement to website VentureBeat:

"Zynga has been accused of copying so many games that they've sadly lost the ability to recognise games like ours that are chock full of original content and have been independently created."

"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."

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David Jenkins

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