Zynga Goes to the Mattresses: 22 Lawsuits Filed This Year, and Counting

September 14th, 2009

By Eric Eldon

tommy gun Top Facebook game developer Zynga was sued for copyright infringement by rival Psycho Monkey last February. It was accused of copying the popular — and lucrative — Mob Wars game in its own creation, Mafia Wars. That case was only recently settled, but in the meantime, Zynga has turned around and filed 22 copyright and trademark lawsuits against other developers.

One suit, against leading rival Playdom, has been gaining some attention. But Zynga has also sued other well-known developers, including Greenpatch Inc, makers of (Lil) Green Patch and the increasingly popular (Lil) Farm Life — that suit was the most recent, filed on August 7th. July was a far busier month, when Zynga filed 14 suits.

However, many of the defendants are clearly not in the right. All of the July lawsuits, for example, appear directed at individuals who operate second-hand poker chip sites. These companies are trying to resell virtual poker chips in and out of Zynga’s poker applications on Facebook and MySpace. This activity blatantly breaks the company’s terms of service, if not state and federal gambling laws.

Neither Zynga nor other companies we’ve spoken with have commented on the lawsuits. Zynga is, of course, the dominant app developer on Facebook. It has nearly 110 million monthly active users across its Facebook apps — although some of those users are double-counted — and we’ve heard it’s on track to make upwards of $200 million in revenue this year. The next largest developer rival, Playfish, has less than half the number of portfolio-summed users, with 51.5 million actives.

Zynga’s size means it is both the biggest target — including for developers looking to rip off its brand, code or virtual goods. But its size, and revenue, also means it can best afford to be the plaintiff in lawsuits.

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7 Responses to “Zynga Goes to the Mattresses: 22 Lawsuits Filed This Year, and Counting”

Zynga’s Power Plays — A Review Says:
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:00 pm
[...] The company is suing top rival Playdom, along with Greenpatch Inc, accusing the former of trademark infringement and the latter of copyright infringement. Both cases [...]
Zynga’s Power Plays — A Review | GoSocial.dk - Social Media Marketing Says:
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:30 pm
[...] The company is suing top rival Playdom, along with Greenpatch Inc, accusing the former of trademark infringement and the latter of copyright infringement. Both cases [...]
Playdom Buys Green Patch and Trippert Labs — On the Way to IPO? Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
[...] games and developer resources make it a more formidable opponent. Also of note in this purchase: Playdom and Green Patch have both been sued by Zynga. Cue the mobster wars [...]
Qu’est-ce qui devrait Zynga faire ensuite ? | Tissu de folie Says:
January 17th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
[...] Singe de Psycho a intenté un procès à Zynga, Zynga a intenté un procès à Playdom aussi bien qu’un certain nombre d’autres promoteurs) donc Zynga devrait marcher soigneusement dans le plombage dans certains des trous dans son [...]
Что должен Zynga делать затем? | Tkan' bezumija Says:
January 17th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
[...] предъявила иск Zynga, Zynga предъявил иск Playdom так же как многим другим разработчикам), таким образом Zynga должен был бы шагать тщательно в [...]
Was sollte Zynga, als nächstes tun? | Stoff der Albernheit Says:
January 17th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
[...] spielenden Raum im Moment weit verbreitet (Psycho Affe hat Zynga verklagt, Zynga hat Playdom sowie mehrere andere Entwickler verklagt), so würde Zynga sorgfältig im Ausfüllen von einigen der Löcher in seiner [...]
¿Qué debería Zynga hacer después? | Tela de locura Says:
January 17th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
[...] juego social en este momento (Psico el Mono ha demandado Zynga, Zynga ha demandado Playdom así como varios otros reveladores) entonces Zynga tendría que poner el pie con cuidado en rellenar algunos agujeros en su carpeta [...]