Zynga wants it known that they own the phrase “With Friends” and they don’t want anyone else in the mobile app scene using those words.

The big mobile and social game publisher, now run by former Xbox boss Don Mattrick, is suing Bang With Friends Inc. over the name of its Bang With Friends.

If you haven’t heard of Bang With Friends, which is probably most of you, it’s an app that alerts people when a Facebook friends expresses a mutual interest in casual sex. Bang With Friends Inc claims to have over one million registered users. If this isn’t a textbook case of The Streisand Effect, I don’t know what is.

Zynga has filed a trademark infringement claim and are requesting that Bang With Friends be barred from using that name and unspecified damages. In their filing, Zynga alleges that Bang With Friends Inc. “selected the name ‘Bang With Friends’ for its casual sex matchmaking app with Zynga’s game trademarks fully in mind.” I’d imagine that Zynga would similarly unleash hell upon anyone using “Ville” as a suffix for a game or app.

I’m no legal expert but it seems as though the case will come down to whether Zynga is allowed to have what would effectively be a monopoly on the use of “With Friends” for mobile and social apps. Somehow, I doubt they’re going to like the outcome if the case comes down to the use of two words.

Source: BBC News