Electronic Arts, Zynga agree to settle competing lawsuits

Electronic Arts, the second-biggest US video-game publisher and Zynga, the developer of the FarmVille game played on Facebook, have agreed to settle competing lawsuits.

In August 2012, Electronic Arts filed a suit in the Northern District of California, claiming that its senior executives who left the company and hired by for Zynga provided the rival game developer details about its development and strategy on its Sims series of videogames.

Zynga filed a countersuit alleging that Electronic Arts was interfering with recruiting of employees and had breached an earlier settlement. It also said that the copyright suit was meritless.

Electronic Arts had claimed that Zynga, who had hired its executives, was trying to bring a copy of its Sims series of videogames with the help of these executives who were privy to critical information on how that game was developed.

Without disclosing the terms of the settlement, both the California-based companies said that they have resolved their differences and permanently dropped their respective lawsuits.

"EA and Zynga have resolved their respective claims and have reached a settlement of their litigation in the Northern District of California," the companies said in a joint statement.