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In August 2008, Apple Inc. removed Tris, a version of Tetris from its online App Store. The software author had written a tetromino game for the iPhone iOS with
by missosoup 7y ago
In August 2008, Apple Inc. removed Tris, a version of Tetris from its online App Store. The software author had written a tetromino game for the iPhone iOS without authorization from The Tetris Company.[12] In March 2009, The Tetris Company sued BioSocia, operator of the Omgpop gaming portal[13][14] because one of its multiplayer games, Blockles, was too similar to Tetris. By September 2009, Omgpop removed the game from the website and replaced it with an alternate that the developers created, based on Puyo Puyo.
In May 2010, lawyers representing The Tetris Company sent Google a Digital Millennium Copyright Act Violation Notice regarding Tetris clones available for Android.[15] Google responded by removing the 35 games listed in the notice as it was legally obliged to do, even though, according to one developer, the games contained no references to Tetris.[16][17][18]
In February 2011, The Tetris Company continued to make copyright claims against independently developed Tetris clones, most notably against Tetrada on the Windows Phone 7 marketplace. The developer, Mario Karagiannis, rejected the claims of copyright infringement on the grounds that copyright does not cover gameplay design, but still removed the game, citing lack of resources to fight what he called "bullying".[19][20]
A US District Court judge ruled in June 2012, that the Tetris clone Mino from Xio Interactive infringed on the Tetris Company's copyrights by replicating elements such as the playfield dimensions and the shapes of the blocks.[21]
Why is this still going on in 2020? Is the copyright on a falling blocks game concept never going to expire? This is a poster child case for why current copyright law is harmful to everyone.
- tedunangst 7y agoPresumably the copyright will expire sometime around 2079.
- missosoup 7y agoUnder mickey mouse act, there's no reason to believe it will ever expire. Whole thing is rotten to the core. Megarich proponents arguing that copyright in its current form encourages competition is about as laughable as megarich proponents arguing for trickle down economics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
- GlitchMr 7y agoI don't think copyright will be extended again because of successful SOPA protests. Disney knows they cannot really succeed now at extending copyright, so they don't bother to.
- uep 7y agoCurrent expectations are that copyright won't be extended again. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/01/hollywood-says-its-not-planning-another-copyright-extension-push/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/01/hollywood-says-i...
- defertoreptar 7y agoWhat part of Tetris do you think is copyrightable? The graphics and sounds are. The source code, yes. The game rules? No.
- simonlc 7y agoThey are protecting their brand, and are trying hard to create a strong trademarkable portfolio. Copyright expires, yes, but none of the case as I understand it really brought copyright infringement into question. Instead it was about trade dress and trademark. Those don't expire. Xio created all their own assets and material, and only reused ideas to make a game. People reuse ideas to make games all the time. They're a smart business, and very tactical. I think when they do decide to drop the hammer on someone it's because they know they can win. They also don't do it if they don't need to. If you beat them in a search engine ranking, you better believe they'll come knocking.
- missosoup 7y agoHow does "infringed on the Tetris Company's copyrights by replicating elements such as the playfield dimensions and the shapes of the blocks" fall under protecting the brand?
- defertoreptar 7y agoThe brand, the IP, is the whole company. Once a court rules that people can recreate the rules of Tetris and make money, then they will have to compete against generic brands, and probably lose millions of annual revenue. The thing is that they don't have copyrights on playfield dimensions and the shapes of the blocks, since those are actually functional elements of the game. However, they have been able to protect their brand by claiming that these things fall under trade dress. What they've argued in court is like Ford saying that Chevy infringed on their trade dress by also using wheels, an engine, a steering wheel, etc.
- simonlc 7y agoWhy would I even answer you if you're downvoting me? lol
- lonelappde 7y agoTetris or any game's mechanics are not copyrightable. DMCA takedowns are not copyright rulings. DMCA is a bad copyright-related law, but it's not the core of copyright law