Put "-Ville" in a Mobile App Name, Risk Litigation From Zynga
Zynga, the social gaming giant that is famously trigger-happy with litigation, is getting defensive about names ending in “-Ville” on mobile platforms like iOS and Android.
Latman Interactive, a small developer behind a paid hidden object game called Quackville, said it received a noticed from Zynga, asking it to change the name of its game and rescind an application to trademark the name. Zynga declined to comment on this.
However, here’s an e-mail excerpt from a lawyer working on behalf of Zynga to the studio’s chief executive Richard Latman:
To summarize, Zynga is concerned that you have adopted a trademark that shares very close similarity to its popular game names CITYVILLE, FARMVILLE, FRONTIERVILLE, PETVILLE, FISHVILLE and YOVILLE. Your trademark application for QUACKVILLE claims only “downloadable computer game software.” We believe there is a strong likelihood that consumers will confuse QUACKVILLE with Zynga’s –Ville marks, shown above. Therefore, we must insist that you voluntarily abandon your trademark application and game name.
Read the rest on our sister site, Inside Mobile Apps.
