Zynga’s strategy ~ “Don’t f***ing innovate!”

“I don’t f***ing want innovation…You’re not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers.”

~ Zynga CEO Mark Pincus

This Forbes piece, Leaked Zynga Memo Justifies Copycat Strategy, analyzes the recently leaked memo where Pincus rationalizes their strategy of copying other’s games. Apple does it, as do many other companies.

So what’s the problem?

I guess the big legal issue is:

What constitutes protected intellectual property? Design, code, what?

Not sure where the lines are being drawn now or where they may be redrawn in the future, but the answer needs to be settled before businesses that do want to create “innovative” games can have any confidence that companies like Zynga won’t “steal”  or “copy” their intellectual property.