Look, we all know Zynga has been pegged before for, how do you say, being inspired by their competitors' works. But that pales in comparison to what Vostu, a Brazilian social game publisher has done with popular games like CityVille and PetVille. The developer south of the equator has essentially copied several Zynga games wholesale--mistakes and all, as TechCrunch reports--into games like Mega City and Pet Mania. Lo and behold, Zynga has slapped Vostu with a big ol' lawsuit for, you guessed it, infringement. Zynga had this to say in its lawsuit:

Basically (and based on its previous run-ins with companies), Zynga sees drawing inspiration from and downright copying the opposition verbatim, as two different things. Though, again, that's also a slippery slope. The lawsuit, which Zynga filed in a San Francisco court (and TechCrunch has in full right here), displays detailed comparisons between its games and Vostu's, clearly supporting its case. It's a shame, too, because we'd love to see Vostu's take on games like FarmVille for iPhone --mistakes and all.