According to a filing in the US District Court of Northern California, all lawsuits related to Electronic Arts’ and Zynga’s lawsuit were dismissed. Electronic Arts claimed that Zynga’s game The Ville was an “unmistakeable copy” of Electronic Arts’ The Sims Social. Zynga’s countersuit accused EA of unlawful actions, including anti-competitive business practices.
The original suit noted unique audio-visual elements, animation sequences, character motions, and actions such as taking a photo of animals or a sequence for sending a character to sleep were copied. One of the potentially more egregious examples listed was the character creation system, listing the blue background, character rotation arrows, and green exit buttons as copied. It is asserted that both games use eight identical skin-tone options, down to the exact RGB values for each color.
Electronic Arts and Zynga released identical statements on the settlement — “EA and Zynga have resolved their respective claims and have reached a settlement of their litigation in the Northern District of California. Both the suit and countersuit have been dismissed with prejudice. The terms of the settlement are confidential. In October, Zynga cut funding to The Ville as part of a restructuring plan to recover the company.
