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Cloning games is fraught with legal difficulty because the courts appear to consider video games as audiovisual media for copyright purposes and not strictly co

Cloning games is fraught with legal difficulty because the courts appear to consider video games as audiovisual media for copyright purposes and not strictly computer programs. This means that if you develop any game which is "substantially similar" to another game, even on a surface level, you may be found liable for copyright infringement. K.C. Munchkin shared neither code nor assets with Pac-Man, for instance, but because it centered around a "gobbler" that ate dots and avoided monsters, it was considered similar enough to Pac-Man to infringe on the latter's copyright. Whatever you do, never ever clone Tetris. Henk Rogers has lawyered up like no other game developer has, and asserts copyright on all falling-tetromino games, as well as trademark rights on various generic elements of said games, including the shapes of the tetrominoes themselves and the public-domain song "Korobeiniki" when used in video games. If you clone Tetris without authorization from Tetris Holdings, you are at grave risk of being sued; if you are sued, you will lose.

ideasphere 3y ago
https://blog.osk.sh/post.php?p=643dbb578e1ba3.57021842 https://blog.osk.sh/post.php?p=643dbb578e1ba3.57021842
fluoridation 3y ago
>including the shapes of the tetrominoes Is that even possible? The shapes are simply all the geometric shapes that can be formed by a specific rule. It's not a work of art, they are derived mathematically. Anyone who comes up with the same rule will find the same set of shapes. It wasn't even an invention of Pajitnov; tetrominoes had already been used in tabletop puzzle games.
- bitwize 3y ago
  > Is that even possible? Trademarks apply within certain markets. Namco, for instance, is the name of both a video game company and a company that makes swimming pools. Because their markets don't overlap, each can own the Namco trademark for their respective markets. Famously, the name Apple was similarly contended over by a computer company and a record company owned by the Beatles, with the settlement stipulating that the computer company not get into the music business (which settlement was broken when the computer company could afford Boies-tier lawyers). It is certainly possible to do what The Tetris Company has done, which is to trademark the tetromino shapes as applied to the video game market, while still leaving them generic for use in mathematical puzzles, physical tabletop games, etc.
  - fluoridation 3y ago
    So they used trademark, not copyright? That's even stranger. Surely if I make a box for a game showing the tetromino shapes in a random configuration, that could not possibly match any existing logo or company name. That would be like owning a trademark on "Nintendo" and all the possible permutations of its letters, so I could not found a game company called "Entidonni".
    - bitwize 3y ago
      Henk and Alexey want an incontestible lock on the Tetris IP, and have employed a strategy of total lawfare to defend it, claiming any form of IP -- copyright, patent, trademark -- over any aspect of the game, and using any legal tools available to enforce their ownership of said IP. This includes getting CBP to seize imports of unlicensed Tetris games, firing off DMCA takedowns, and -- doubtlessly -- venue shopping for a sympathetic judge should they actually decide to litigate. This is why you do not clone Tetris without authorization. They have better lawyers and the will to destroy you if you do.

ideasphere 3y ago

https://blog.osk.sh/post.php?p=643dbb578e1ba3.57021842 https://blog.osk.sh/post.php?p=643dbb578e1ba3.57021842

fluoridation 3y ago

>including the shapes of the tetrominoes Is that even possible? The shapes are simply all the geometric shapes that can be formed by a specific rule. It's not a work of art, they are derived mathematically. Anyone who comes up with the same rule will find the same set of shapes. It wasn't even an invention of Pajitnov; tetrominoes had already been used in tabletop puzzle games.

bitwize 3y ago
> Is that even possible? Trademarks apply within certain markets. Namco, for instance, is the name of both a video game company and a company that makes swimming pools. Because their markets don't overlap, each can own the Namco trademark for their respective markets. Famously, the name Apple was similarly contended over by a computer company and a record company owned by the Beatles, with the settlement stipulating that the computer company not get into the music business (which settlement was broken when the computer company could afford Boies-tier lawyers). It is certainly possible to do what The Tetris Company has done, which is to trademark the tetromino shapes as applied to the video game market, while still leaving them generic for use in mathematical puzzles, physical tabletop games, etc.
- fluoridation 3y ago
  So they used trademark, not copyright? That's even stranger. Surely if I make a box for a game showing the tetromino shapes in a random configuration, that could not possibly match any existing logo or company name. That would be like owning a trademark on "Nintendo" and all the possible permutations of its letters, so I could not found a game company called "Entidonni".
  - bitwize 3y ago
    Henk and Alexey want an incontestible lock on the Tetris IP, and have employed a strategy of total lawfare to defend it, claiming any form of IP -- copyright, patent, trademark -- over any aspect of the game, and using any legal tools available to enforce their ownership of said IP. This includes getting CBP to seize imports of unlicensed Tetris games, firing off DMCA takedowns, and -- doubtlessly -- venue shopping for a sympathetic judge should they actually decide to litigate. This is why you do not clone Tetris without authorization. They have better lawyers and the will to destroy you if you do.