本网最近获得了一份关于Digital Chocolate和Zynga诉讼案的完整副本。本周初，Trip Hawkin旗下的Digital Chocolate公司就Mafia Wars的商标问题向Zynga公司发起了诉讼。在这场诉讼中，Digital Chocolate称“zynga通过复制和不诚信行为盗用了MAFIA WARS的标志”，对于该标志，Digital Chocolate公司拥有优先权。

mafia-wars

根据法律文件资料显示，Digital Chocolate在2004年6月收购芬兰公司Sumean Interactive获得该游戏后便开始使用Mifia Wars这一名称。在Digital Chocolate的经营开发下，Mafia Wars最终发展成为系列游戏，并在2005年发行了Scarlotti’s Mafia Wars 2和 Mafia Wars Yakuza Wars，在2009年发售了Mafia Wars New York（敏锐的观察者或许会发现之后Zynga公司发行的Mafia Wars Bangkok和Mafia Wars New York在名称上与Digital Chocolate的有Mafia Wars系列有相似之处）。

尽管Digital Chocolate的Mafia Wars并不如Zynga公司的受欢迎，但据该公司称在全世界也有200多万人下载了这一系列游戏。

当2008年zynga公司发售首款Mafia Wars时，他们可能并不知道Digital Chocolate公司已出版过类似游戏，但在2009年1月Digital Chocolate公司的一封法庭文件声明挑明了这一冲突。2009年5月，Digital Chocolate称已收到了Zynga公司对于那封信的回复，回复中Zynga称他们的游戏并没有侵犯到Digital Chocolate公司的权益。

digitalchocolate vs zynga

然而据法庭文件显示，这场争辩并没有持续太久。在2009年6月，Zynga公司在美国申请了Mafia Wars的商标权。然后该公司将这个商标推广运用到其他国家，并应用在从记事本到女士背心等各种产品上。在此之后Zynga也就Mafia Wars的名称问题向其劲敌Playdom提出诉讼。当时，Zynga声明他们“相信没有任何个人、公司、企业或组织有权将该商标用于商业行为。

在这场法律诉讼中，Digital Chocolate要求“被告方（zynga）归还其通过违法行为所获得的全部收入”，“赔偿3倍的损失和合理的诉讼费用”，返还Mafiawars.com的域名权利。

尽管Digital Chocolate的立场似乎比较有利（Zynga公司只准备了一份声明来回复这一起诉），但在该案件中仍有一些薄弱点，这些薄弱点有可能妨碍Digital Chocolate赢得Zynga公司。首先，Digital Chocolate在美国似乎并没有正式注册Mafia Wars商标权，这将减弱他们对该名称的优先权。另外，Digital Chocolate必须证明Zynga公司使用Mafia Wars名称的行为引起了“市场混乱”。这意味这Digital Chocolate必须出事证据证明一些玩家认为Zynga的Facebook游戏与Digital Chocolate的大型下载游戏有关联。

我们将持续关注这一法律纠纷。

Games.com — The Blog has obtained a complete copy of the lawsuit that Trip Hawkins’ Digital Chocolate served against Zynga earlier this week over the company’s use of the Mafia Wars trademark. In it, Digital Chocolate methodically lays out its argument that, “through duplicity and bad faith, [Zynga] effectively hijacked the MAFIA WARS mark” that Digital Chocolate had a prior right to.

According to the court documents (the first 18 pages of which can be found here), Digital Chocolate’s use of the name Mafia Wars began in June of 2004, when the company got the game in its acquisition of Finnish company Sumea Interactive. Sumea’s Mafia Wars eventually spawned sequels under Digital Chocolate, including Scarlotti’s Mafia Wars 2 in 2005 (here’s an IGN preview from that game’s release), Mafia Wars Yakuza Wars in 2005 and Mafia Wars New York in 2009 (astute observers may see similarities to Zynga’s later Mafia Wars Bangkok and Mafia Wars New York in those titles).

Though Digital Chocolate’s Mafia Wars was never as big as Zynga’s, the company claims that two million people worldwide downloaded games in the series (including “hundreds of thousands” in the U.S.)

Gallery: Digital Chocolate’s Lawsuit Against Zynga Over Mafia Wars Name

While Zynga may have been unaware of Digital Chocolate’s game when it launched its version of Mafia Wars in 2008, Digital Chocolate made sure to let them know about the conflict in a January 2009 letter, court documents state. In May of 2009, Digital Chocolate says they received a response to their letter in which Zynga, while claiming that their game didn’t infringe on Digital Chocolate’s, nonetheless “disclaims any trademark rights in the term ‘Mafia Wars’ in connection to the game.”

But that state of affairs didn’t last long, according to the court documents, as Zynga filed for a Mafia Wars trademark in the U.S. in July of 2009. The company later extended the trademark application to other countries and to use in a variety of branded products from memo pads to tank tops. These filings became especially ironic when Zynga filed a suit againt rival Playdom over the Mafia Wars name. At that time, Zynga stated their “belief no other person, firm, corporation or association has the right to use the mark in commerce, either in the identical form thereof or in such near resemblance thereto as to be likely…”

In the lawsuit, Digital Chocolate is seeking that Zynga “disgorge any and all revenues and profits that Defendant has derived from its wrongful actions;” as well as “treble damages, resonable attorney’s fees and expenses; and costs,” rights to the Mafiwawars.com domain name and “corrective advertising for double the amount spent” by Zynga.

While Digital Chocolate’s case seems strong (assuming the facts are as they’ve been laid out here — Zynga has offered only a prepared statement in response to the allegations), there are a few potential legal sticking points that might prevent them from winning untold millions from Zynga. For one, Digital Chocolate seems to have never formally registered a trademark for Mafia Wars in the United States, weakening their prior claim on the name. For another, Digital Chocolate would have to prove that Zynga’s use of the Mafia Wars name produced “market confusion” over which game was which. This means they have to show that some consumers assumed Zynga’s mega-hit Facebook game has some relationship with Digital Chocolate’s largely unheard-of downloadable title.

We’ll provide updates on the legal wrangling as we get them. (Source：Games.com)