The Hub

Disheartening news just came though the /. newsfeed; Zynga, the publishers of so many of the Facebook games out there, has sued and settled with Vostu, a game company in Brazil.

The suit claimed that Vostu copied elements of Zynga’s copyrighted material (logo, website design, game design, etc…).  Not the smartest idea, in my opinion, but then, we’re looking at the pot calling the kettle black. Vostu has stated right back that Zynga stole what they are being sued about.

But, for all the copying and screaming of “I don’t want f**king innovation!” (thank you Mark Pincus), Zynga is not the only company doing this. Last month, SpryFox has filed suit against 6Waves LOLAPPS for the infringment, code theft, and complete a$$hattery surrounding the games Tripple Town (SpryFox) and Yeti Town (6Waves LOLAPPS).

Before I leave you with the official court document, I have a new entry to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:

Earth – The Internet

Casual Games: None.

Granted, these kinds of things are being created all the time. However, they are all the same game, and the myriad of delicate changes to the interface make new “copyright” filings, and thus “new” games are being created. In greater scope of the Internet, the “casual gamer” is always searching for a newer, better version of the game they are currently playing, no matter the minute changes, or who the new game producer is.

For a similar comparison, see “First Person Shooter, War Depiction Game”, also known as Battlefield and Call of Duty.

The suit document:

On the 18th of January, this site homepage will be host to the SOPA Blackout Protest.  First page view will encounter the truth of how the SOPA and PIPA (Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act) will devastate the Internet as a whole.

The small time business owners, bloggers, and critics will be under the scrutiny of the corporate hounds, and be brought down by their hunters (lawyers), for anything they feel like.  With SOPA, you are guilty until proven innocent.

This doesn’t mention all the message boards, mailing lists, personal bloggers, eBay’ers, Craigslist, hobby artists, Android /iOS developers… the list keeps going.  If you get snooped out, you get brought down.  There will be no more Internet.

Filed under Internet news, there are a few links I’d like to share.

First, from the folks at ProseBeforeHos.com, a 19-year-old gives a stirring speech on how gay-marriage really hasn’t affected him in any negative form, given that his parents are women:

Second, techdirt.com has been informed of a letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Attorney General Eric Holder and ICE Director John Morton, basically asking why ICE/DHS is seizing domain names without any due process.