In February 2009 Mob Wars creator David Maestri sued Zynga for copyright infringement. Zynga’s game Mafia Wars – a text-based game very similar to Mob Wars – was just too much of a copy of Mob Wars, said Maestri. Maestri himself had only recently cleared up his own rights to the game after a scuffle with his former employer, SGN
The Maestri-Zynga lawsuit has now been settled as well. The rumor was that Maestri was demanding $10 million from Zynga to settle the litigation. Ultimately, says one source, he got a payment in the “high seven figures.” So that implies something like $7 – $9 million.
Wonder why the settlement was so high? It’s hard to believe, but Mob Wars was pulling in an estimated $1 million/month at one point from users eager to upgrade their weapons and other stuff. These games seem silly, but real money flows through them from virtual goods.
Not a bad payday for Maestri. And it also highlights the fact that none of these companies have a completely clean record when it comes to respecting the intellectual property of competitors.
| Website: | zynga.com |
| Location: | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Founded: | July, 2007 |
| Funding: | $39M |
Zynga is a network of gaming applications built off of classic games like Poker, Battleship, and Attack!. The games are found on social networks like Facebook and… Learn More
