Zynga Thinks You Might Confuse Having Casual Sex With Playing A Scrabble Knockoff, Because It's 'With Friends'

from the trademark-with-friends dept

You may recall that Zynga was once a company that made social media games, occasionally by taking games other people had made and repackaging them. You likely also remember them for their Words With Friends app that briefly reminded everyone why they hated Scrabble. Well, things haven't been going so well for the company since its IPO, with share prices falling roughly seventy percent. And now, as we have seen in the past, the relatively aged internet company has decided to go the lawsuit route instead of competing in its own marketplace.

And thank the maker for that, because that's how I get to report to you that Zynga is suing Bang With Friends, the app that lets you bang (BANG!) your social media contacts.

The company “selected the name ‘Bang With Friends’ for its casual sex matchmaking app with Zynga’s game trademarks fully in mind,” according to the complaint. The name infringes a trademark covering games such as “Words With Friends” and “Chess With Friends,” according to the filing.

Zynga seeks a court order barring the company from using the name “Bang With Friends” in connection with any social-networking applications in the U.S. and unspecified damages.

See, while there was once a time when Zynga's games spread across everyone's Facebook pages much like a sexually transmitted disease, it's kind of hard to imagine most people thinking Zynga wanted you to bump uglies with that one girl you passed a couple times in your high school hallway. But even if you want to make the argument of brand confusion, it's somewhat ridiculous for a company that played fast and loose with intellectual property in the past to now be using it as a weapon to get monetary damages.

Filed Under: bang with friends, branding, trademark, with friends, words with friends
Companies: zynga