In the past, Zynga has gotten into some hot water over their supposed lack of creativity with titles like Dream Heights, but this time around things are a little different. According to Reuters, Zynga is suing Kobojo, the developer of PyramidVille, which, in all honestly, looks suspiciously like a Zynga title.
Comparing it to titles like FarmVille, CityVille, and CastleVille, Zynga's complaint to a San Francisco federal court says that “Facebook users are likely to believe, erroneously, that Pyramidville is a member of Zynga's 'Ville Family of Games,” which it has “consistently promoted... together as a family, identified by the distinctive 'Ville suffix.”
This isn't the first time Zynga has been involved in legal disputes over the 'Ville series: they've also sued the creators of another Facebook game, Blingville (via MegaGames).
Still, even though PyramidVille does come across as pretty derivative, we'd be a lot more likely to side with Zynga if they didn't have a history of doing the same thing. They've got every right to defend their property, but they might be in for an uphill battle, considering that a good chunk of Facebook games are derivative of their games.
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