The company behind the successful Game of War app accused another game, Empire Z, of being an unauthorized copycat but Empire Z countersued claiming that Game of War is the real clone of earlier games. Yesterday, the parties announced a settlement with Empire Z admitting to copying elements of Game of War and saying it was sorry.

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*Game of War: Fire Age* was released in July 2013 by Machine Zone, Inc. Besides being at the top of the iTunes App Store, the television commercials feature Kate Upton in medieval style dress. In total, tens of millions of copies of the game have been downloaded worldwide and the game reportedly made over $600 million in 2014. The game, set in a medieval empire, consists of both city building and gathering resources to create buildings, produce troops and defend a kingdom. Similar to other mobile games, much of the gameplay consists of selecting an action and then either waiting a preset amount of time for completion or expediting the task by making a payment. (Like growing crops in other mobile games.) While the game is free to download, that is where the real money is made. In May 2014, Ember Entertainment, Inc. released *Empire Z* which features similar gameplay but is set in modern times with zombies being the main antagonists. Machine Zone claims the game is just a “re-skin” of its game and is merely a “clone”. In fact, Machine Zone spends 26 pages of the complaint highlighting the similarities between the two games. For instance, the goals of the games are the same; each game features a “hero” who becomes more powerful as more of the game is played; each game requires players to produce and use commodities like food, wood, and metal; each game rewards players who play more; and in each game the players must build their city and defend it from enemies.In its defense to the action, Ember struck back with a counterclaim alleging that Machine Zone has no valid copyright interest in any claimed elements of *Empire Z* because 1) Machine Zone copied them from earlier games; 2) the disputed elements are unprotectable ideas; and 3) the disputed elements are common and widely used themes. Ember claimed that many MMO games are basically the same with a hero encouraged to build a city by gathering certain resources and completing tasks. Ember nameed many of these games including *Kingdoms of Camelot*, *Valor*, *Dragons of Atlantis*, *Clash of Clans* and *The Hobbit,* all released prior to *Game of War* that are all pretty much the same. Yesterday, the parties made peace. Both parties agreed to dismiss the dueling lawsuits with prejudice and issued a statement. The joint statement claimed that the terms of the settlement were confidential but part of the statement was Ember’s *mea culpa*: “Ember used some elements of *Game of War: Fire Age* in the original version of *Empire Z*, for which Ember apologizes…Ember has taken steps to remove these elements from the current and any future versions of *Empire Z*.” So with that apology the case is over. We will never know if any money changed hands between the parties or if Machine Zone was happy with the apology and changes made to *Empire Z*. Both games remain available for download and play.