Lawsuit Against Facebook Dropped, Zynga Still in Trouble

A lawsuit against Facebook, regarding Farmville developer Zynga’s use of advertisements that were in fact scams, has been dropped. The class action lawsuit filed back in November by lead plaintiff Rebecca Swift is however being continued against Zynga.

Swift claimed to have been scammed $200 from an advertisement promising a no risk trial of green tea. She had taken the trial in return for virtual currency in Zynga’s online game, YoVille. The case was brought to Facebook’s lawyers because the plaintiff’s law firm argued that Facebook had actively promoted Zynga’s games, despite knowing that they were misleading.

The firm, Cutter & Ratinoff, has decided to dismiss the portion of the lawsuit against Facebook, with MediaPost suggesting the move is prompted by a piece of legislation that protects online companies from getting sued for content they didn’t create, but still appears on their website.

The lawsuit against Zynga is still pending; however Zynga claims that it did not create the ads in question. They no longer run the misleading ads, and now have a strict approval process for their current “offers”.

Zynga has been trying desperately to fix their untrustworthy image with moves such as advertising guidelines and trusted partners like The New York Times, but you don’t live something like this down easily. And there’s Zynga’s CEO Mark Pincus, who said some really silly things once, which I’m sure doesn’t help.

Zynga is also in court with Playdom, another social gaming company that Zynga accuses of stealing their business “playbook” by hiring former employees with key knowledge. Also in dispute is a trademark for Mafia Wars, which Zynga claims was featured in Playdom’s advertising without any attribution. Zynga suggests that it could cause brand confusion due to Playdom having a similar game called “Mobsters”.

Via: Industry Gamers