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Game maker Zynga sued a French competitor, alleging that by usingthe suffix 'ville' in the name of its game, Kobojo wilfullyinfringes on its trademark rights and is seeking to exploit itssocial gaming reputation. Zynga, which has produced a range of what it calls ville-familygames such as CastleVille, CityVille and FarmVille, has filed alawsuit against Kobojo before the U.S. District Court for theNorthern District of California over Kobojo's use of the namePyramidVille for its online and mobile game, according to courtdocuments. It said the lawsuit was filed to ensure that Kobojo stops confusingconsumers who are likely to think that PyramidVille is a Zynga gamebecause of its resemblance in name and type of game to the gamesZynga offers, the filing said. Kobojo refused to remove the suffix upon request, and is in theprocess of expanding the scope of infringement by launching amobile version of the game, Zynga said in the filing last week.Both PyramidVille and Zynga's ville-games are adventure games whichencourage the user to interact with other gamers and play togetheronline. More than 100 million people play on one of its ville-branded gamesper month on Facebook, other social websites and mobile platforms,Zynga said. In contrast, PyramidVille is used by 6 million Facebookusers, Kobojo said in a press release in January, announcing the release of the game for mobileplatforms. Kobojo did not respond to a request for comment on the U.S.litigation. The case is not the first time Zynga decided on legal actionagainst other game makers for the use of the 'ville' suffix, thecompany said in the court documents . "Zynga has diligently policed its rights in the 'VILLE Family ofMarks against such would be infringers, including the use ofcease-and-desist letters and, where necessary, institutingopposition proceedings with the United States Patent and TrademarkOffice's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board," the company said in thefilings. Zynga has applied for trademark rights for the mark "VILLE" but theUSPTO suspended the application on May 3. The makers of the games Dungeonville and Blingville have sued Zyngapreemptively in the past seeking declaratory judgement that theydid not infringe on Zynga's marks. The litigation brought byDungeonville maker Night Owl Games was dismissed on March 19 by theU.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, indicatingthe case was settled. The litigation between Zynga and Kobojo is similar to a trademarkinfringement dispute between Apple and Amazon over Amazon's use ofAppstore for its online store of applications. A California court denied Apple's motion for a preliminary injunction on Amazon.com's use ofthe term last year, allowing Amazon to keep using the term, atleast until October this year when the trial for the case was set. An initial case management conference between Zynga and Kobojo hasbeen set for July 24. I am an expert from sheet-forming-machine.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Automated Roll Forming Machine Manufacturer , Metal Slitting Machine, Roof Roll Forming Machine,and more.
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