Electronic Arts Inc. sued Zynga Inc. for allegedly infringing its copyright-protected Facebook game "The Sims Social" with the new Zynga game "The Ville."

EA's suit, filed in a U.S. district court in San Francisco, claims the videogame maker willfully copied and misappropriated elements of the Sims game, which launched in August 2011. "The Ville," which was rolled out in June, allows users to create avatars and build homes for them, similar to "The Sims" franchise.

"Zynga's...