Zynga to sue DC over the name 'SmallVille'

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Feb 13, 2008
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Loonyyy said:
Before people start making raging posts about wanting to take control of the "ville" part, read the entire First Post.
Brian Hendershot said:
The_root_of_all_evil said:
Brian Hendershot said:
There is no meme or Youtube video that can properly convey how stupid of an idea this is and how funny I think it is.
Oh, I think there's one on this page that adequately expresses it ;)

You have checked the OP I assume?
I dunno man...not even a Futurama reference was enough. Maybe I am just dumbfounded by the whole situation.
Possibly dumbfounded enough not to READ THE ENTIRE FIRST POST? ;)

White text is easy to see if you drag your cursor across it.

Because I don't remember comicalliance being on that page
 

Mad World

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orangeapples said:
At first...
I agree.

They really don't have to call it "SmallVille." When you go to their official site, it's just "Smallville."

In general, people seem far too biased against Zynga, so I don't expect anyone to really agree.
 

brunothepig

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The_root_of_all_evil said:
brunothepig said:
My god... The 57th post? 55 people didn't bother to check the source?
You do know how to read white writing, don't you? ;) [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/9.316122.12847431]

26 posts is still pretty bad. :p However, I retract my previous statement, and congratulate you.
 

DracoSuave

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Ghengis John said:
Tharwen said:
sub]Psst! It's Trademark[/sub]
Not in a strictly legal sense per se but same difference. Copyright violation, trademark infringement, it's cash-grab litigation ahoy either way.
Except they are not, in any way, the same thing.

However, DC can make the very valid argument that if Zynga wanted to counterclaim the trademark SmallVille they should have done so towards the television series. By not doing so, Zynga would then legally relinquish any rights to the trademark.

Tho... lulz.
 

Robert Ewing

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Oh what the hell Zynga. I know you're going through some rough financial times, but this is just absolutely stupid.

I suggest all of you resign. Now.
 

bakan

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zehydra said:
"Zynga has spent years on researching and developing innovative and original games."

that's bull.

Zynga can go to hell.
Exactly what I thought and it was covered by the first response

edit:
IlluminatiSoldier said:
Everyone hates Zynga for this but not Bethesda for suing Mojang for a stupid reason? O_O

(and yes, it is Bethesda doing the lawsuit, not the lawyers or Zenimax)
Actually there was a pretty big uproar about the lawsuit...even on this forum
 

Wuggy

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Oh so that's how it is! I've always been wondering why we don't see Superman harvest more crops, but I've just gotten the two 'villes' confused!

Now back to my enigma of finding out whether or not Notch is the head-developer for Skyrim.
 

stubb22

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You cant trademark parts of words. Zynga will lose. If they wanted to stop them they would have to buy the name smallVille off them.
 

Felstaff

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Whilst Zynga has as much right to ____Ville games as Bethesda does to ____Scrolls games, they... might have a point.

Like or hate their games (I say 'their' game; they just cloned Farm Town for most of their harvest-based browser games), they *do* own intellectual property rights for online social media browser-based games, and would obviously like to maintain those property rights in this particular medium. Much like Apple having fisticuffs with the Beatles for years-- Apple were only allowed to keep their name so long as they kept out of the music game-- DC comics don't have a presence in "Facebook games", so seeing an ad suddenly appear for "New Browser Game! SmallVille!" to the right of your Facebook status update window, a significant proportion of people (who don't know/don't give a shit about Superman or DC, including me) would immediately think it is a game 'by those guys who did FarmVille'. There is legitimate cause for confusion, as--surprisingly--out of 500,000,000 people on Facebook, more of them would know about FarmVille than Smallville.

Zynga totally have a case if DC wants to muscle their brand in the lucrative social-network-gaming medium, in which Zynga has significant market share and brand awareness based on _____Ville titles.

Don't let your disdain at an unscrupulous, "lesser" gaming company (in your eyes) colour the fact that if MegaConglomerateGloboHyperCorporation D.C. wants to bring 'Smallville' to Facebook, then the creators of FarmVille, CityVille, FrontierVille, YoVille, and PetVille, will most definitely have a strong intellectual property case against use of that title.

The fact that the name 'Smallville' has been around for x decades longer than 'FarmVille' means nothing; there has been no game on a social media platform called Smallville, ergo it doesn't have automatic trademark rights over the term in that specific medium.
 

RA92

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GeorgW said:
Wait, what?? Why is DC making a browser game, why not just change it to Smallville and how did Zynga trademark 'Ville'?
That said, I'm actually torn on this one. I hate Zynga games as much as the next guy, but that capitalized V does seem a bit insinuating. However, Smallville has been a DC property for decades and all they're doing is capitalizing a letter, perhaps to avoid confusion with the TV series.
The general feeling I get from this is: It's a waste of the courts' time.
EDIT: Good one. My point still stands, waste of time :p
Do I get a badge for trolling a mod? :p
 

Brian Hendershot

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The_root_of_all_evil said:
Loonyyy said:
Before people start making raging posts about wanting to take control of the "ville" part, read the entire First Post.
Brian Hendershot said:
The_root_of_all_evil said:
Brian Hendershot said:
There is no meme or Youtube video that can properly convey how stupid of an idea this is and how funny I think it is.
Oh, I think there's one on this page that adequately expresses it ;)

You have checked the OP I assume?
I dunno man...not even a Futurama reference was enough. Maybe I am just dumbfounded by the whole situation.
Possibly dumbfounded enough not to READ THE ENTIRE FIRST POST? ;)

White text is easy to see if you drag your cursor across it.

Because I don't remember comicalliance being on that page
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I feel dumb now...

Thanks for pointing that out in a vague way... :p I suppose I deserve that.
 

Sixcess

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Epic troll is epic.

*applauds*

Raiyan 1.0 said:
Do I get a badge for trolling a mod? :p
You deserve one.

A troll thread in the City of Heroes [http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=124689] forums was so successful it eventually had an in-game achievement named after it.
 

GeorgW

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Raiyan 1.0 said:
GeorgW said:
Wait, what?? Why is DC making a browser game, why not just change it to Smallville and how did Zynga trademark 'Ville'?
That said, I'm actually torn on this one. I hate Zynga games as much as the next guy, but that capitalized V does seem a bit insinuating. However, Smallville has been a DC property for decades and all they're doing is capitalizing a letter, perhaps to avoid confusion with the TV series.
The general feeling I get from this is: It's a waste of the courts' time.
EDIT: Good one. My point still stands, waste of time :p
Do I get a badge for trolling a mod? :p
Unfortunately not, but you deserve one! The first time I've been trolled for months! I guess I'm just a little more trusting around these parts.
 

Xanthious

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You know it's funny to claim you spent years researching innovative and original games when your CEO is telling employees ?I don?t fucking want innovation! You?re not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers.?

Zynga has been nothing but a plague to video games since their inception. They have built their company off of stealing the work of other developers and cramming that work into a cheaply made browser game.

Mark Pincus, Zynga CEO, is a fucking sleeze bag. He has gotten rich off stealing other people's ideas and ripping off his customers. He's the kind of person that deserves a drawn out crippling bout of the most painful type of ass cancer an angry god can muster. The kind that ends with him spending his final days alone and in constant blinding pain shitting himself in some dank hospital room.
 

Phoenix Arrow

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EverythingIncredible said:
Phoenix Arrow said:
EverythingIncredible said:
Nice to see the Escapist community is still bitter over Zynga vs Valve.
While the fanboy rage when Zynga kept knocking out big companies was hilarious, Valve completely steamrolled Zynga so I don't see why Portal fanboys would have a problem with that. Poor BioWare. They could've won that year. Always the bridesmaid.
Steamrolled?

That's not how I remember it.

I remember Zynga kicking Valve's ass up until we pretty much rallied all of our friends to vote for Valve.
Really? I don't know. I go into hibernation on this forum for most of Spring.