WTH Zynga owns the rights to the word "ville"

[Hugh]

So Zynga owns the rights to the word ville and is suing ppl for trademark infringement for containing ville (eg. Blingville). wth how do ppl gets rights to stuff like this. Just say no when ppl ask for rights to words such as that.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-01-24-zynga-attempting-to-enforce-ville-trademark

[xvampire]

apple ... + MC ( put word) + Edge

hmm ...

[Yozora]

Was this Tim Langdell's idea?

[ebagg]

Since when could you copyright a suffix?

[Del]

~ WOW. A fucking suffix? Hell No. That's bullshit.

[Marine]

Warner need to make a Smallville game immediately

[xvampire]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamesville

[eld]

http://www.computersnstuff.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/TimLangdell.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1FRY654d-9w/SuP0xDYWnBI/AAAAAAAACJw/yeD10uyMANs/s320/zynga+ceo.jpg

BFF



http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/6329/langzynga.jpg

[Arcanox]

I should set out on a quest to trademark all forms of punctuation. Think it will fly?

[arshlevon]

not saying it should be okay, but they invented the word "ville" for games. i really cant think of any games ending in ville other than farmville in the last 30 years or so of video gaming. i must have totally missed out on super marioville, or streetfighterville, or the ever popular world of warville. Zynga made a extremely successful game, and within months you have 5000 games ending in ville trying to cash in on their idea. i hate people that remake popular games in hope for a quick buck more than people that copy write suffixes.

[aesir]

Time to make a game that ends in 'ly'

All adverb based games will belong to aesir. Fear me.

[HonkyPunch]

I cordially invite them to suck my dickville.

[eld]

blizzard should get in on the action, they could make a killing from minecraft.

[arshlevon]

or games workshop, oh wait, they would have to do pre fixes.

minecraft is nothing like any blizzard game, every game ending in ville is exactly like farmville.

[Gav]

- and do you seriously think they're not using 'ville' to get the attention of Farmville players? I dunno, it is kinda douchey, but I'd be pissed if i made this crazy successful game then a bunch of people cloned my game including the name. Makes sense to me.

[Justin Meisse]

but doesn't Zynga operate on a philosophy of ripping off games wholesale until one sticks?

[Gav]

Don't we all, Justin - don't we all?

[Justin Meisse]

Well they did add some original ideas... they took Farm Town and named it Farmville

[Stinger88]

Quick!....someone copyright the word Farm.

Ridiculousness!

[Hugh]

why do that when I can copyright the alphabet. A-Z and 0-9.

@arsheleton(cant spell): lets say they were the first game to have ville in the name right. So then that would mean blizzard could own craft and activison can do it with modern warfare. But I mean another stupid on is Valve and DOTA. But copyrights should be harder to get if its very simple terms like this

[blankslatejoe]

but doesn't Zynga operate on a philosophy of ripping off games wholesale until one sticks?

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/zynga-draws-fire-from-its-ex-employees/

[Kewop Decam]

I cordially invite them to suck my dickville.
hahahahaha

I'm not surprised Zynga pulled some shit like this

[Pedro Amorim]

can't we all get along?

[Kwramm]

pfew! good we're not named Polyville...or Farmcount... guess we're safe

oh and plz lern 2 red. they trademarked it. different thing from copyright, even though it may look quite similar at first glance.

[xvampire]

Harvest Ville Moon !
..
oops

[DKK]

LANGDELL!

[Jackablade]

- and do you seriously think they're not using 'ville' to get the attention of Farmville players? I dunno, it is kinda douchey, but I'd be pissed if i made this crazy successful game then a bunch of people cloned my game including the name. Makes sense to me.
It's pretty standard practice on Iphone. Look how many "doodle" games there are to jump on the Doodle Jump bandwagon.

[ZacD]

iMcEdgeville anyone?

[Gav]

Fair enough - that doesn't make it right though. I mean, look how many people like Twilight. I just don't think it's something to freak out over, they're probably just trying to protect their brand. Again, not saying it's right or anything but there's worse shit going on. Plus, to relate it to a crook like Langdell is wrong..i mean..at least they do SOMETHING else other than copyright your name :P

[greevar]

It's anti-competitive. That's all they're doing. They think they should be the only company that can use "ville" so they can have a monopoly on it. If they have a monopoly on it, they can charge whatever absurd price they please on anything that bears that trademark.

[ZacD]

those laws are only there to stop people from trying to confuse/steal customers, anything with edge wont steal customers, I can kind of see ville become the "sim" for Zynga, like if I tried to make a sim town or sim park, people would this maxis made it. But it should be a whole package kind of thing, if it didn't look all fun and cartoony, and had ville in the title, it shouldnt be an issue, or drugville or something that wouldn't fit the Zynga type.

[NASTRASH]

http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/rr175/ErykaDL/CHIKININIZZZZ/Nelly-Nellyville.jpg

[Mezz]

I know it sounds pretty ridiculous and all... but whether you're aware or not, Mattel has done the same thing with 'Barbie Pink' years ago. Yes, they copyrighted a colour. Suffixes aren't a far stretch from something like that :P

Doesn't make it right or wrong, ridiculous or savvy... it just happens.

[hawken]

I'd be pissed if i made this crazy successful game then a bunch of people cloned my game including the name.

You realise that FarmVille is a piece of crap, right? Any copy instantly improves on what is one of the worst examples of gaming in our industry.

The artwork looks like clipart from various CD's mashed together. The ethic was entirely for profit.

[Kwramm]

I know it sounds pretty ridiculous and all... but whether you're aware or not, Mattel has done the same thing with 'Barbie Pink' years ago. Yes, they copyrighted a colour. Suffixes aren't a far stretch from something like that :P

Doesn't make it right or wrong, ridiculous or savvy... it just happens.


they trademarked it. copyright = different thing. Trademark means you can not sell anything under the registered name or using a logo resembling the registered one, and this only applies to the countries where the trademark is actually registered. It doesn't mean they have a copyright on the color pink, because if they had, then they could just sue anyone using the color pink, which would be rather ridiculous.

Also, if your product is totally unrelated to the trademarked product, you CAN use the same name! (but not the same logo). The court argument goes like this "how likely is an ordinary customer to mix up your two brands". If you have Nike tractors and Nike sports clothing, there's no danger. If there's Nike sports clothing and you want to name your tuxedo company Nikes, there'll be a problem because the ordinary customer might think they're related when they're not, because they're in the same/similar industry.

trademarks apply when you are selling something (or can reasonably prove you are going to intend to sell a product with that trademark). copyrights apply regardless of your commercial intent. copyrights exist upon creation of a work (you can register them additionally, but it's not required by law). Trademarks you have to apply for and they are granted to you by the trademark office.

[Mezz]

Ah, yes, I was confused on which it was... thanks for the explanation, got it now! :)

[Gav]

Hawken, man - i instantly assume all Facebook games are pretty bad :) But it IS successful and they would probably want to avoid other's from taking clipart from different CDs to make Orchardville or some shit. Again, I'm not saying it's an awesome thing to do...but I can see the reasoning behind it. I mean...of course it is entirely for profit, it's business.