Zynga Lawyer Responds to Blingville Lawsuit

Does use of the name "Blingville" by a small game developer from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, infringe the trademark rights of Zynga, creator of FarmVille? Does Zynga have a monopoly on Facebook applications ending in "ville"? Blingville has filed a declaratory judgment action in the Northern District of West Virginia to find out.

Zynga's games have been extremely popular - and profitable - on Facebook in the last two years. The company says it has more than 295 million monthly active users on site for its six games -- CityVille, FarmVille, FishVille, FrontierVille, PetVille, and YoVille. Blingville is just getting started with commercializing its game. It says another company, Overtime Apps, registered the Blingville.com domain name in October 2004 and that in November 2010, it filed a trademark registration application for the use of the name. Then, according to Blingville, Overtime Apps assigned its rights in the trademark to Blingville.

When Zynga got wind of what Blingville was doing, it sent several cease-and-desist letters to Blingville, claiming trademark infringement and threatening to sue for alleged violations of the Lanham Act. "Use of the name," Zynga's deputy general counsel told an online magazine, "is an obvious attempt to capitalize on the fame and goodwill associated with Zynga's family of 'ville' games which includes FarmVille and CityVille. We are prepared to take all necessary steps to protect our intellectual property rights."

Read the rest of the article at the Virginia Business Litigation Lawyer blog

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