Zynga in Court Over Mafia Wars Trademark Dispute

Zynga, makers of FarmVille and other Facebook games, is once again in court. Online game developer Digital Chocolate has taken the company to court regarding the use of the “Mafia Wars” trademark, which it claims it has owned since 2004, using it in its own similar game.

Digital Chocolate claims that Zynga “falsely claimed to the public, the United States Patent Office and the courts that it ‘coined’ the Mafia Wars mark and owns superior rights to the mark.” They claim that they contacted Zynga last year saying they owned the trademark, who responded in writing that they would stop using the Mafia Wars name. They then began a large marketing campaign with US store 7-Eleven and filed two trademarks based on a range of merchandise linked to the game.

Digital Chocolate wants an injunction preventing Zynga from using the Mafia Wars name and them to be forced to “engage in corrective advertising”, costing double they spent on Mafia War‘s own advertising.

GamePro contacted Zynga who responded by saying: “We are surprised and disappointed by Digital Chocolate’s lawsuit. The timing of the action appears to be opportunistic, and we plan to defend ourselves vigorously.”

This isn’t the first time Zynga has been in the courts regarding the Mafia Wars trademark. Playdom, the company recently bought by Disney, were sued by Zynga back in July of last year who claimed the company allegedly used the Mafia Wars trademark in its advertising. Zynga claimed brand confusion could have occurred as Playdom has a similar game called Mobsters.

Mafia Wars is also the question of a San Francisco investigation regarding viral street ads used by Zynga. The city’s attorney’s office claims the company used “documented acts of sidewalk vandalism” when it used branded stickers of fake $25,000 notes and cracked car windows and said it “intends to pursue every available cause of action aggressively against Zynga for these illegal marketing tactics.”

Via: GamePro