In the suit, which was filed in US District Court in San Francisco, King alleges that the China-based 6waves copied 'the look and feel' of its Pet Rescue Saga and Farm Heroes Saga games.
The suit accuses 6waves of using King's intellectual property in its Treasure Epic and Farm Epic games.
It's natural for smaller mobile companies to emulate the giants like King, but the side-by-side screen comparisons by King suggest that 6waves is doing a bit more than emulating.
King declared that Farm Epic was an 'unmistakable copy' of Farm Heroes Saga, and King CEO Riccardo Zacconi said that '6Waves went well beyond simply using King's ideas for inspiration; they copied the original and creative expression that our employees worked very hard to develop.'
Repeat offender?
This is not the first time that 6waves faced charges of copyright infringement. At the beginning of 2012, Spry Fox filed suit against 6waves for copying its 2011 Apple Game of the Year Triple Town with its snow-themed Yeti Town.
Despite rebuffing Spry Fox's claims as being 'factually inaccurate', 6waves eventually settled with Spry Fox for an undisclosed amount.
What's more interesting about the suit, however, is that it may demonstrate King flexing its legal muscles prior to its expected US IPO.
The company will want to tie up any loose threads quickly, as well as demonstrating to potential shareholders that it has the ability to aggressively protect its intellectual property, as indeed did Zynga before its ill-fated IPO.
[source: VentureBeat]
