14 DAY TRIAL // The lawsuit that publisher Electronic Arts has launched against social game creator Zynga over the copyright issues linked to The Sims Social and The Ville is not a clear win according to at least one major analysis firm that’s watching the video game industry.
The analysis firm Wedbush Morgan stated in a note for investors that, “It is not clear to us that the mere emulation of a game concept constitutes a copyright infringement. The suit alleges willful infringement of EA’s copyrights, and alleges that EA has suffered from and will continue to suffer irreparable damage unless Zynga is enjoined from continuing to infringe upon EA’s copyrights.”
It adds, “In our view, this is a close call. We are convinced that EA will press on with this lawsuit until it receives a jury verdict, and we think that sufficient controversy over the facts exists to preclude a grant of summary judgment.”
Electronic Arts claims that many of the gameplay and style elements in The Ville, which was just launched, are clearly copied from The Sims Social.
The company believes that the lawsuit against Zynga is required to stop the company from copying mechanics from other developers who might lack the means to defend themselves from breaches.
The social games giant has dismissed the lawsuit as being ironic.
Eric Goldman, a university professor who specializes in copyright issues at the Santa Clara University, has also stated that Electronic Arts was playing with fire.
He also claimed that the two companies would probably seek to reach a settlement before the case goes to trial.
The Sims Social is a Facebook adaptation of the core Sims mechanics, including all familiar elements like jobs, decorations and interactions between characters, with an added energy mechanic and with the option to pay real-world money to get extra content.