Zynga slaps Brazilian social game creator Vostu with lawsuit for copycatting

Zynga vs Vostu
Look, we all know Zynga has been pegged before for, how do you say, being inspired by their competitors' works. But that pales in comparison to what Vostu, a Brazilian social game publisher has done with popular games like CityVille and PetVille. The developer south of the equator has essentially copied several Zynga games wholesale--mistakes and all, as TechCrunch reports--into games like Mega City and Pet Mania. Lo and behold, Zynga has slapped Vostu with a big ol' lawsuit for, you guessed it, infringement. Zynga had this to say in its lawsuit:

    Vostu has brazenly appropriated the copyright-protected aspects of Zynga's games(as well as almost every other aspect of Zynga's business) – with scant effort to mask their strategy– and then offered games virtually identical to Zynga's games to prospective players in the United States and elsewhere.

Basically (and based on its previous run-ins with companies), Zynga sees drawing inspiration from and downright copying the opposition verbatim, as two different things. Though, again, that's also a slippery slope. The lawsuit, which Zynga filed in a San Francisco court (and TechCrunch has in full right here), displays detailed comparisons between its games and Vostu's, clearly supporting its case. It's a shame, too, because we'd love to see Vostu's take on games like FarmVille for iPhone--mistakes and all.

The dust finally settles on Zynga, MegaCity maker Vostu's legal battle

This year's proverbial title bout of social game legal disputes has finally come to a close. And walking away from the dust as it settles is Zynga, as Vostu unfortunately limps away in the opposite direction. Hyperbole aside, the two social game makers have settled their multiple disputes in both US and Brazil courts, and sounds like Vostu ended up having to pay. Here's the statement provided to us by both companies:

    Zynga and Vostu have settled the copyright lawsuits and counterclaims against each other in the United States and Brazil. As part of the settlement, Vostu made a monetary payment to Zynga and made some changes to four of its games. The parties are pleased to have settled their disputes and to now put these matters behind them.

Unfortunately, it sounds as if Vostu lost out on this one. As for exactly what changes are to be made to four of Vostu's games, neither company could comment. Our guess is that changes will be made to four of the games involved in Zynga's initial lawsuit (filed way back in June of this year)--MegaCity, PetMania, CafeMania, and Mini Fazenda--to reduce their similarities to their Zynga-made counterparts.
CityVille vs MegaCity
Vostu Poker was also part of Zynga's lawsuit, but it's our guess that this game will be left unchanged, because, well, it's poker. While Zynga seems to have won this war, the company is no stranger to copyright disputes. Just recently, the developer opted to thwart Night Owl Games's attempts at creating either a game or game level called DungeonVille based on use of the 'Ville suffix. But that isn't to say the FarmVille maker hasn't had some issues of its own.