Copyright for video games

01-04-2012

Otto Licks and Carlos Aboim

Video games on social platforms such as Facebook are a new category of fun, offering both highly viral and engaging characteristics.

Video games on social platforms such as Facebook are a new category of fun, offering both highly viral and engaging characteristics.

The games can be played for free, but gamers who are eager to progress can buy extra virtual coins using real cash, and millions of people invest real money on them. In Brazil, two of the big players in the market are Zynga Inc and Vostu Ltd, both from the US.

Combined, they have approximately 40 million users in the country. Thus, when a major copyright infringement suit was filed in Brazil in 2011 by Zynga Inc against Vostu Ltd, seeking protection for four of its games, including CityVille, it became the largest ever software infringement case in the country, demonstrating the scope of legal protection provided for software in Brazil.


Brazil, video games, copyright, social networking

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