Zynga: Activision Blizzard Sued Over Patent

 Activision Blizzard and social-gaming company Zynga are being sued for alleged patent infringement.

Walker Digital, an "invention" company started by Jay Walker, the founder of Priceline.com, filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Delaware earlier this week, alleging that the companies are violating its "Database driven online distributed tournament system" patent.

The patent was awarded to the company in 2002 and includes a "product and method of distributed electronic tournaments for a plurality of players that exchanges information with a central controller to influence game play while a player plays in the tournament and stores player information to influence game play in a subsequent tournament."

Walker Digital alleges in its lawsuit that the tournament-style gameplay it patented has been used by Activision Blizzard through online gaming services and by Zynga on the Web in several games. The lawsuit specifically targets Call of Duty: Black Ops, DJ Hero 2, and World of Warcraft (along with its expansions), among others in Activision Blizzard's library. Mafia Wars and Vampire Wars were among the Zynga titles cited in the lawsuit.

Walker Digital is seeking damages, which the company says have yet to be determined.

Neither Activision Blizzard nor Zynga immediately responded to request for comment

Activision Blizzard

Website     :     activision.com
Location    :     Santa Monica, California, United States
Founded    :     May 8, 1991
IPO           :     1983

Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI) is an American video game developer and publisher. It was the first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles.

Zynga

Website   :      zynga.com
Location  :      San Francisco, California, United States
Founded  :      July, 2007
Funding    :     $519M

Zynga was founded in July 2007 by Mark Pincus and is named for his late American Bulldog, Zinga. Loyal and spirited, Zinga’s name is a nod to a legendary African warrior queen. The early supporting founding team included Eric Schiermeyer, Michael Luxton, Justin Waldron, Kyle Stewart, Scott Dale, John Doerr, Steve Schoettler, Kevin Hagan, and Andrew Trader.

Zynga’s mission is connecting the world through games. Everyday millions of people interact with their friends and express their unique personalities through our games, which range from harvesting crops to building your business franchise, to playing poker.

Through the company’s philanthropic arm, Zynga.org is committed to transforming the world through virtual social goods. Zynga players have raised more than $6 million for several international nonprofits since Zynga.org launched in October 2009.

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