14 DAY TRIAL // Zynga may be pulling in an impressive number of Facebook users, but it's also pulling in an impressive number of lawsuits. Turns out social gaming is a lot more brutal than the name would lead to believe, at least in the courtrooms. Just last week, the company filed a lawsuit against competitor Playdom for stealing its “secret sauce” - the Zynga Playbook. Now, TechCrunch reports that the company has settled another suite filed against it earlier this year by Mob Wars creator David Maestri.
The lawsuit was filed in February this year, with Maestri claiming copyright infringement of his game, Mob Wars. Zynga has a very similar title with the very original name Mafia Wars, which has, more or less, the same gameplay as Mob Wars. In the games, users commit all sorts of criminal activities to rise in the ranks. They can advance more effectively if they buy guns and other virtual items with real, hard cash and the title was said to be making some serious revenue earlier in the year. On a side note, Playdom also has a game, again originally titled, Mobsters, which, you've guessed it, also plays in pretty much the same way.
Zynga changed several things in its Mafia Wars after the suit was filed. Still, Maestri had the rights to the original game and Zynga has now settled the case out of court. Maestri was reportedly asking for around $10 million and may have actually received close to that, according to one source. But Zynga isn't out of the courts yet, as it just got started on its own suit against Playdom.
Actually, it's a new suit against Playdom, for the two companies are still engaged in another legal battle, as Zynga also accused Playdom of misleading ads this summer, claiming that the ad campaign might have made some users believe they were visiting Zynga's own Mafia Wars site.