The Ville is a defunct game by Zynga released on June 30, 2012 in which the object was to earn experience points by building a house and talking with neighbors.
On August 3, 2012, EA sued Zynga, claiming that The Ville infringed on the copyright of The Sims Social.
[2] EA publicly stated that "Maxis isn't the first studio to claim that Zynga copied its creative product.
"[3] EA added that the lawsuit was not just to uphold their copyright, but "for creative teams who feel that their hard work and imaginations have been ripped off".
"[8] Intellectual property expert Jack Schechter concluded that courts were increasingly willing to protect games from would-be clones, and suggested that Zynga would not be happy with the outcome in Spry Fox.