Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) announced on Friday that it has filed a lawsuit on behalf of its Maxis Label against Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) for infringing EA's copyrights to its Facebook game, The Sims Social. The complaint was filed today in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
In the complaint, EA claimed that in Zynga's recently-released Facebook game The Ville, Zynga has willfully and intentionally "copied and misappropriated the original and distinctive expressive elements of The Sims Social in a violation of U.S. copyright laws."
Electronic Arts noted that the Sims Social, launched in August 2011, brought the distinctive universe of EA's world-renowned franchise, The Sims, to the social gaming audience on Facebook.
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