Facebook game Blingville gets cease and desist from Zynga
by Griffin McElroy 
on Jan 25th 2011 3:30PM
There's an immense power struggle happening right now, in the deep, deep folds of the social gaming universe -- a struggle over ownership of an extremely lucrative word fragment. Zynga recently
sent a cease and desist letter to Blingville LLC, the creators of an upcoming Facebook game that shares the name of their company. According to Zynga, the use of "ville" in the game and company's moniker infringes on
its own collection of social gaming trademarks.
Blingville, not a-feared of Zynga's assumedly massive litigatory army, has filed a letter to the West Virginia U.S. District Court, seeking a declaration from the court that their game doesn't actually infringe on Zynga's trademarks. The studio also hopes to have Zynga foot the bill for any legal fees potentially accrued during a legal battle. We'll keep you updated on how this turns out -- but until it gets settled, we'd suggest developers and city planners alike avoid using the suffix. (Hear that, Louisville? You're officially on notice.)
