Last month, Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) sued arch-rival Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA) over a copyright violation. The claim was that Zynga’s “The Ville” was a knock-off of “The Sims Social.” Now, though, the tables have turned. Zynga is firing back and has adding its own claims.
The lawsuit alleges that EA tried to get a no-hire arrangement to prohibit Zynga from poaching any of its employees — something that is illegal in California.
All in all, it’s messy stuff, but litigation has become just a normal part of the tech world. Just look at the mega lawsuits in the mobile world with players like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Samsung and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG).
It is getting tougher to differentiate products — especially in the online gaming world — as well as to get market share. So why not use litigation as a way to get an edge? After all, everyone’s doing it.
Zynga’s just the latest to jump on the bandwagon; the only difference is that it’s throwing the second punch.
Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPOPlaybook, a site dedicated to the hottest news and rumors about initial public offerings. He also is the author of “All About Short Selling” and “All About Commodities.” Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not own a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
A long-time follower of the IPO scene, back in 1999 Tom started one of the first sites in the space called WebIPO. It was a place where investors got research as well as access to deals for the dot-com boom. Tom also wrote the top-selling book, Investing in IPOs. In it, he covers all the aspects of analyzing an IPO, such as reading the prospectus, detecting the risk factors and understanding some of the arcane regulations. But don’t worry — if that process is too intimidating for you, thankfully Tom will do the legwork for you right here in the IPO Playbook blog.
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