Zynga, Digital Chocolate Go to the Mattresses Over Mafia Wars Name

August 25, 2010

Following threats from the city of San Francisco earlier this week over an “illegal and actionable” Mafia Wars II marketing stunt which littered the streets of that city, a bad stretch continues to get worse for social game maker Zynga.

Venture Beat reports that Zynga is now the target of a trademark suit from mobile game developer Digital Chocolate. The Trip Hawkins-helmed company claims that it owns the exclusive rights to the name Mafia Wars and that it notified Zynga of the infringement last year, after which it was informed by Zynga that it would stop using the name.

Zynga, responding to the lawsuit, stated, “We are surprised and disappointed by Digital Chocolate’s lawsuit. The timing of the action appears to be opportunistic, and we plan to defend ourselves vigorously.”

Digital Chocolate used the Mafia Wars name for a mobile game, which VB writes, “wasn’t very popular.

Comments

Re: Zynga, Digital Chocolate Go to the Mattresses Over ...

Submitted by Craig R. on Wed, 08/25/2010 - 17:10.

Zynga ignoring a cease and desist? What a shock.

Re: Zynga, Digital Chocolate Go to the Mattresses Over ...

Submitted by ecco6t9 on Wed, 08/25/2010 - 16:16.

I though I was the only one that noticed that. When Facebook Mafai Wars hit I though Digital Chocolate was behind it.

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