Susman Godfrey L.L.P. announced today that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Zynga, Inc. in U.S. District Court, District of Delaware.
The complaint was filed on behalf of Agincourt Gaming, which claims that Zynga violated two of Agincourt’s patents. Agincourt is seeking monetary damages and a permanent injunction that will seriously jeopardize the future of Zynga’s business.
Agincourt claims they own patents that claim priority back to 1996 and cover the processes for credits-based online gaming and a prize redemption system based on the outcome of game play.
Bill Carmody, a senior partner at Susman Godfrey, Agincourt’s lead counsel said, “Agincourt’s patents cover the most lucrative aspects of online social gaming – including those comprising the bulk of Zynga’s revenues – as they contain the crucial ‘link’ that allows for global, interactive prize redemption over the Internet.”- Sun Herald.
Zynga has skyrocketed to the top of the social gaming heap to become among the largest online game developers in the world. Zynga is also responsible for four of the top five games on Facebook, which draw more than 270 million active monthly users, so this lawsuit could be lucrative.
According to the lawsuit, Zynga violates Agincourt’s patents on games including: FarmVille as well as FishVille, PetVille, YoVille, Zynga Poker, Empires & Allies, Mafia Wars, Treasure Isle, FrontierVille, CityVille, CafeWorld and Vampire Wars.
The lawsuit also alleges that Zynga has a history of copying rather than innovating its own games.
