I found this on the net Zynga Sued Tony Sanders the creator of Farmvillesecrets.com and a few others for "Copyright Infringement" Meaning what ? because they use the name "FarmVille" or why ? http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuit.asp?id=54558 Can this be true ? Tony Sanders dba Mafiawarsblueprint.com dba Farmvillesecrets.com dba Rollercoasterkingdomsecrets.com dba Cafeworlddomination.com dba Fishvillesecret.com dba Fvsecrets.com Vincent Cicinelli dba Mafiawarswizard.com dba Mafiawarscheater.com dba Farmvillewizard.com dba Farmwizard.com William Bates dba Farmvillemillionaire.com Jason Fitzpatrick dba Farm-Expert.com Troy Mitchell dba Cafeworldguide.us Great Merle Arjun Lal Ivana Markovska Joshua Mintz John Doe 1 dba Mafiawarsannihilation.com John Doe 2 dba Farmvillegamecheats.com John Doe 3 dba Mafiawarsblueprint.com John Doe 4 dba Farmvillesecrets.com John Doe 5 dba Fvsecrets.com John Doe 6 dba Rollercoasterkingdomsecrets.com John Doe 7 dba Cafeworlddomination.com John Doe 8 dba Fishvillesecret.com John Doe 9 dba Farmvillemillionaire.com John Doe 10 dba Farm-Expert.com
Farmville is a registered trademark, so you have trademark infringement when it is used in the domain and copyright infringement would likely be related to the images and screen shots used without permission.
This is madness , so if i`m a fan and buy a www.FarmVilleFan.com domain and put their logos and pictures even videos from their site i`m sued ? OR just if you make a product or money with their copyright matterial ?
You can't use someone else's property (trademark) in a domain name - especially when it relates to their product. They "own" the rights to the usage and you can't come along and try to ride their goodwill to make a buck. It's trademark infringement and they can take the domain in a UDRP action, or they can just sue you. If you are sued, you will need to spend tens of thousands of dollars (probably more) to defend yourself in court. If you win, you are out legal fees. If you lose, you are in a world of hurt. Come up with your own unique idea for a game. Spend thousands of hours developing it. Spend a small fortune promoting it. Then see how you feel about someone coming along and using your work to try and make a quick buck. If you for some reason don't care, then don't take legal action. Farmville obviously cares and is taking legal action.
I am afraid being a fan does not allow you permission their stuffs,logos,pictures and even slogans related to their biz. Where did you get that idea from?
What exactly is mad about protecting ones investment of time money and effort ? What is madness is that these morons that are being sued thought they could steal something and get away with it.
It's not stealing unless the person wants you to take it down. You usually don't need permission for fan sites anyways. The sites don't care usually about fan sites since it's horrible pr to sue a fan site unless they are actually doing something to hurt them, but they see fan sites as free traffic + money.