

The Facebook game myFarm was released in November 2008, six months before Zynga released FarmVille. A complaint filed by SocialApps, a California-based developer, claims that Zynga stole the source code from myFarm for use in Zynga’s farming game, FarmVille. Zynga’s suit was quickly followed by another copyright infringement allegation filed on June 17, 2011. In addition, the filing points to bugs in the Zynga source code that Vostu allegedly copied inadvertently. The complaint includes a side-by-side comparison of a number of the games Vostu allegedly infringed.

Zynga alleges that its evidence shows a series of similarities between the concepts, graphics, layout, menus and more for each game, although the complaint never specifies what the copyrights actually cover. Vostu is accused of infringing Zynga’s copyrights in FarmVille, Zynga Poker, PetVille, Café World and CityVille, with Mini Fazenda (Mini Farm), Vostu Poker, Pet Mania, Café Mania and MegaCity respectively. In June, social gaming giant Zynga filed suit against Brazilian developer Vostu for “blatant copyright infringement.” Zynga claims that Vostu has appropriated the copyright-protected aspects of Zynga’s games as well as almost every other aspect of Zynga’s business. Although the “look and feel” of a user interface is typically not eligible for copyright, particularly within the Internet environment, this seems to be at the center of recent filings. Recently, social media game developers have been filing copyright infringement suits faster than a round of crops can grow on FarmVille. Vostu: Is Copying Another Game’s User Interface Copyright Infringement? Posted by:
