[UPDATE] FarmVille studio launches lawsuit over casual sex app claiming it infringes on Zynga’s trademark for its “with friends” suite of games; Bang With Friends Inc. says it hasn’t seen the lawsuit.
[UPDATE] Following the publication of this story, a Bang With Friends Inc. representative told GameSpot that it has not yet personally seen the lawsuit from Zynga.
“We heard through media reports that Zynga has filed a trademark infringement claim with respect to the ‘with friends’ part of our name,” the representative said. “As a technology company, we take intellectual property seriously and will evaluate the case in detail once we receive a copy. Regardless, we continue to be focused on making our users happy, so that they can help each other be happy.”
The original story follows below.
Social game giant Zynga has sued the developer behind casual sex app Bang With Friends, claiming the company’s software infringes on Zynga’s trademark for its “with friends” suite of games.
Zynga is the owner and operator of various “with friends” games, including Words With Friends and Chess With Friends. According to a complaint filed in San Francisco federal court yesterday (via Bloomberg), Bang With Friends Inc. registered the domain name last year.
According to the complaint, Bang With Friends Inc. “selected the name ‘Bang With Friend’ for its casual sex matching app with Zynga’s game trademarks fully in mind.” The complaint claims Bang With Friends directly infringes on Zynga’s games Words With Friends and Chess With Friends.
Zynga is seeking a court order to prohibit Bang With Friends Inc. from using the Bang With Friends name in the United States and unspecified damages.
The Bang With Friends app taps into a user’s Facebook account and matches people up with other friends who have deemed themselves “interested” in the other person.
Bang With Friends Inc. could not be reached for comment at press time.
Last week, Zynga reported a $15.8 million loss and revealed it lost nearly half of its daily active players year-on-year.
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