All the Farmville and Mafia Wars vendors being taken to court

Humm.... so anyone want to buy a Farmville list?

 

Here's the email I received from Zynga 5 days ago:

"Dear ****** *******,

I am writing from Zynga Game Network Inc. (“Zynga”). Zynga is the owner of the well-known trademark and trade name Farmville. As you are no doubt aware, Farmville is the trademark used to identify products, services, activities and events related to Zynga, including video game software and entertainment on wireless devices and computers.

You have registered, without Zynga’s permission or authorization, the domain name '*************.us' (the “Domain Name”). The Domain Name incorporates the famous Farmville mark in its entirety, and, by its very composition, suggests Zynga’s sponsorship or endorsement of your website and correspondingly, your activities.

Your use of a Domain Name that incorporates the famous Farmville mark constitutes trademark infringement and dilution of Zynga’s trademark rights and unfair competition. Your use of our mark in the Domain Name is diluting use because it weakens the ability of the Farmville mark to identify a single source, namely Zynga. Further, your registration and use of the Domain Name misleads consumers into believing that some association exists between Zynga and you, which tarnishes the goodwill and reputation of Zynga’s products, services, and trademarks.

In view of your infringement of Zynga’s rights, we demand that you provide written assurances within 7 days that you will:

1. Immediately discontinue any and all use of the Domain Name; and
2. Immediately and permanently refrain from any use of the term Farmville or any variation thereof that is likely to cause confusion or dilution.

I look forward to hearing back from you within the above-mentioned time frame.

Sincerely,


Jennifer Lam
Zynga Game Network Inc. "

 

Yup, typical C&D letter.

 

very interesting post.

 

Typical alright...

But it seems that using their copyright name is against the law as well as the logos and related graphics.

Waiting to see what is happening with the new Starcraft guides from Blizzard.

 

i dont know hwy famrville got huge gravity and convert to little

anyone can make sales on famrville?

 

i'm agree with you

 

I saw that same letter too, for a website using their game name in the domain name.

But actually it was just a forum, nothing else, no sales involved, maybe (not sure since it has been deleted already) their logo too, even if modified, i dont think they were doing more than 100 visitors a month

Now they are redirecting to them, but the domain name is still there since it cant be deleted till expires

Does anybody know how it is going? did you receive any confirmation that a amicable solution has been reached?

 

hey all. been awhile but im back now!

anyway, fyi, all my sites do not carry the "trademarked" names in the domains anymore, nor the graphics so that should settle that.

but in all fairness, farmville is a name of a town. how do you claim right to that?

 

Nice to know, thanks for the update.
Do you mean that they have been patient enough to let you block the access to your old domains while you transferred the content to the new ones? Did they claim ownership of the old domains? i am curious to know how they deal with that... did they ever reply to you?

 

Well, it appears you still haven't learned anything about trademark law...

 

my got feeling is that they are running after everybody, not just after the business in the gray area. that's why even if he learned something i understand the reaction. formally they are right, but if you look just a little bit over the formal, it does not look good, as their methods to make money do not look good to me... tony, say something?