Electronic Arts (EA), the United States' second-largest videogame maker, has filed a lawsuit against Zynga on Friday, Aug. 3, claiming the company's "The Ville" game infringed copyrights for EA's "The Sims Social" game.

The lawsuit, filed in a U.S. District Court in San Francisco, claims Zynga wilfully copied and misappropriated elements of the Sims game. According to lawyers for Electronic Arts, Zynga's "The Ville" copies original elements of "The Sims Social." The characters in Zynga's game included eight personality types ranging from athlete to villain, blatantly copying the types found in "The Sims," which coincidentally range from jock to scoundrel. The filing could not be immediately confirmed from court records.

"The similarities go well beyond any superficial resemblance," said Lucy Bradshaw, general manager of EA's Maxis label. "Zynga's design choices, animations, virtual arrangements and character motions have been directly lifted from 'The Sims Social.'"

Electronic Arts' "The Sims Social," which allows players to create customized characters and interact in a virtual town, made its debut on Facebook in August last year. In June, Zynga announced its own Facebook social game "The Ville," which similarly allows players to create customized avatars, build homes, and interact in a fictional town.

Zynga is the biggest developers of social games played on Facebook. Electronic Arts is the second-biggest developer on the popular social network, publishing games such as "Madden NFL," "Battlefield," as well as "Sims" titles. EA's social games include "Bejeweled" and "Plants vs. Zombies." According to EA, the "Sims" titles have sold more than 150 million units since the game first launched more than a decade ago.

In response to EA's lawsuit, Zynga's general counsel Reginald Davis argued that "The Ville" is merely a continuation of its Ville-game franchise, which includes popular titles YoVille, FarmVille, CityVille, and CastleVille.

"It's unfortunate that EA thought this was an appropriate response to our game, and clearly demonstrates a lack of understanding of basic copyright principles," said Davis. "It's also ironic that EA brings this suit shortly after launching SimCity Social, which bears an uncanny resemblance to Zynga's CityVille game."

According to analysts, it is very common for rivals in the highly competitive gaming industry to come up with similar offerings. This factor has resulted in a large number of copyright infringement lawsuits filed in recent years, but most of them were eventually settled out of court. This is not the first time a gaming company sues Zynga over one game or another.

Back in 2009, the creator of "Mob Wars," a popular social game on Facebook, sued Zynga claiming that its "Mafia Wars" game was a "Mob Wars" knockoff. Zynga settled the lawsuit the same year. Huffington Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co.'s interactive game division Learning Co. also sued Zynga in May 2011, claiming that "FrontierVille" blatantly copied Houghton's "Oregon Trial" game franchise. EA's Bradshaw noted that EA is just a latest in a number of companies to sue Zynga.

"This is a case of principle," said Bradshaw. "Maxis isn't the first studio to claim that Zynga copied its interactive product. But we are the studio that has financial and corporate resources to stand up and do something about it."