Under the Lanham Act, the central test for trademark infringement is whether there is a likelihood of confusion as to the source of the parties’ respective products. Zynga doesn’t own the name “Blingville,” but that doesn’t end the inquiry. Not wanting to get sued in California, where Zynga is headquartered, Blingville took matters into its own hands and filed for declaratory relief in West Virginia, seeking a judicial declaration of non-infringement.Īssuming that the court first finds that the 2004 registration of the domain name didn’t give Blingville full trademark rights to the use of the name for its social media game, the court will then need to look at the standards for trademark infringement under the Lanham Act. We are prepared to take all necessary steps to protect our intellectual property rights.” “Use of the name,” Zynga’s deputy general counsel told an online magazine, “is an obvious attempt to capitalize on the fame and goodwill associated with Zynga’s family of ‘ville’ games which includes FarmVille and CityVille. When Zynga got wind of what Blingville was doing, it sent several cease-and-desist letters to Blingville, claiming trademark infringement and threatening to sue for alleged violations of the Lanham Act. Then, according to Blingville, Overtime Apps assigned its rights in the trademark to Blingville. It says another company, Overtime Apps, registered the domain name in October 2004 and that in November 2010, it filed a trademark registration application for the use of the name. Blingville is just getting started with commercializing its game. The company says it has more than 295 million monthly active users on site for its six games - CityVille, FarmVille, FishVille, FrontierVille, PetVille, and YoVille. Zynga’s games have been extremely popular – and profitable – on Facebook in the last two years. Does use of the name “Blingville” by a small game developer from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, infringe the trademark rights of Zynga, creator of FarmVille? Does Zynga have a monopoly on Facebook applications ending in “ville”? Blingville has filed a declaratory judgment action in the Northern District of West Virginia to find out.
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