EA's Sims lawsuit against Zynga is a "close call": Wedbush

EA's Sims lawsuit against Zynga, which claims the social giant ripped off The Sims Social will its own The Ville, isn't a clear win in the eyes of investment bank Wedbush Morgan.

It emerged on Friday that EA had sued Zynga over The Ville, claiming the game was a Sims Social rip-off.

"It is not clear to us that the mere emulation of a game concept constitutes a copyright infringement," said Wedbush in a note today.

"The suit alleges willful infringement of EA's copyrights, and alleges that EA has suffered from and will continue to suffer irreparable damage unless Zynga is enjoined from continuing to infringe upon EA's copyrights.

"In our view, this is a close call.

"We are convinced that EA will press on with this lawsuit until it receives a jury verdict, and we think that sufficient controversy over the facts exists to preclude a grant of summary judgment."

Wedbush isn't the first to register some disquiet over the claim. Santa Clara University School of Law professor Eric Goldman said over the weekend that EA may be “playing with fire” with the case.

EA alleged that many specific items were copied from The Sims Social for The Ville, including the exact skin tones, the same ratio of home height to floor width, refrigerator dimensions, yoga mat patterns and more.