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Tetris Clones Pulled From Android Market
sbrubblesman writes "The Tetris Company, LLC has notified Google to remove all Tetris clones from Android Market. I am one of the developers of FallingBlocks, a game with the same gameplay concepts as Tetris. I have received an email warning that my game was suspended from Android Market due to a violation of the Developer Content Policy. When I received the email, I already imagined that it had something to do with it being a Tetris clone, but besides having the same gameplay as Tetris, which I believe cannot be copyrighted, the game uses its own name, graphics and sounds. There's no reference to 'Tetris' in our game. I have emailed Google asking what is the reason for the application removal. Google promptly answered that The Tetris Company, LLC notified them under the DMCA (PDF) to remove various Tetris clones from Android Market. My app was removed together with 35 other Tetris clones. I checked online at various sources, and all of them say that there's no copyright on gameplay. There could be some sort of patent. But even if they had one, it would last 20 years, so it would have been over in 2005. It's a shame that The Tetris Company, LLC uses its power to stop developers from creating good and free games for Android users. Without resources for a legal fight, our application and many others will cease to exist, even knowing that they are legit. Users will be forced to buy the paid, official version, which is worse than many of the ones available for free on the market. Users from other countries, such as Brazil in my case, won't even be able to play the official Tetris, since Google Checkout doesn't exist in Brazil; you can't buy paid applications from Android Market in these countries."
Falling Blocks is a nice little game. It's on my phone right now, so here's hoping that Google won't 'pull an Amazon' and vanish it off the device.
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I wonder if you made a Pac-Man clone what Google might think of that?
Reply to Google thanking them for policing the internet, but that your application does not violate any laws. Next thing you know the maker of the whoopie cushion will issue taken down notices for farting apps.
Doen't the DMCA allow you to just send a "No I don't infringue on the copyright" back to Google and have your app not taken down?
Tetris company doesn't like clones
iPhone users hoping to download the free Tetris clone, Tris, had better do so quickly: the game is being pulled from the App Store on iTunes tomorrow due to pressure from both Apple and The Tetris Company, which owns the rights to Tetris.
- August 26, 2008
To the developers: pick a different game. Tetris has quite a litigious history
Or, more to the point... if you're going to spend the time to make a game clone, couldn't you at least do a quick google for "[Game] lawsuits"?
Release it outside the US, then. There's no DMCA in the UK.
... time for some history, no?
This might be a case where the EFF might be interested to help.
Also, banding all together, you are 35 people strong, considerably lowering expenses.
Markus
After reading the document, the whole argument seems to hinge on the use of the Tetris registered name. (Many of the infringing applications were using the Tetris name in the application name)
There are at least two dimensions on which you can get it back up:
... Pong clone.... and see how fast we'll pull it...
Of course with Android you always have the option of getting software from sources other than the main sanctioned market. Unlike a certain other smartphone OS I could mention.
Google has to remove the items in question to be in safe waters with the DMCA.
You can choose to assert that you own the copyright for your app. Once you do that, Google must forward your information to The Tetris Company, LLC, and reinstate your app. It now becomes a matter between you and The Tetris Company, LLC, and Google cannot be held liable for damages.
Then if The Tetris Company, LLC chooses to do so, they can file a court case. That's probably the tricky bit, as you seem to indicate, that you're in Brazil and not the US, where they are likely to file.
But - ask a lawyer. I'm not one, the above is just how I understand the DMCA works.
Could it be that they only pulled it down from the US market due to DMCA pressure? Can't you file one of those counter-notice thingies?
You believe that gameplay can't be copyrighted. You cherry picked some unnamed and unknown sites that support your believe about gameplay and copyright.
One web search shows as the first hit a nice page from the US Copyright Office that demonstrates he's right. And that's not specific to the US (left as a web search exercise to the reader).
Donate free food here
I guess you're typing this on your original IBM branded PC, right?
(To everyone else: I hope to God he's not using a Mac, coz if he is, my flippant remark will be blown out of the water and then buried under a veritable Mt Everest of smug)
I hate printers.
Instead of complaining that your app was pulled because of similarities to something that already exists, go create something original that no one has come up with yet. Novel idea in today's environment of recycling old ideas, I know.
DMCA is about copyright, not patents, so they shouldn't take down your application for presumed patent infringement. Tetris shouldn't be patentable anyway, but I wouldn't bet on what the USPTO would actually patent, whatever their policies are stating.
AFAIK, takedown notices are preemptive strikes that you can object to.
Write to Google that you own the copyright on your application and that The Tetris Company, LLC claims are illegitimate.
From the wikipedia :
Takedown notices targeting a competing business made up over half (57%) of the notices Google has received, the company said, and more than one-third (37%), "were not valid copyright claims."
The Tetris Company, LLC seems to simply abuse the DMCA.
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
Let's patent the patent system. And see what happens.
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
Yeah, I wouldn't assume stuff I read on the Internet as legal fact. It's time to hire a lawyer. They can get to the bottom of what you allegedly did wrong and what to do about that. If you are in the clear legally, they can also write a letter on your behalf to Google and that tends to carry more weight than a letter you send yourself. If your game isn't worth the couple of hundred dollars it will cost to do this, then please do us all a favor and just leave it off the Android Market.
The apps can still exist just not on the market...someone should make a site for apps kicked off the market. There is a reason we can install non market place apps.
Umh yeah
Since the issue here seems to be the legality of it (IMO the DMCA has no power over game mechanics, FWIW). Anyway, how can people find satisfaction in making clones of games? Isn't the joy of game development in making a game that you truly believe in, that puts your unique ideas out there? If the game you truly believe in already exists, just play that rather than making a copy . . . or at the least put your own spin on the idea rather than just copying someone else's idea verbatim, changing the art and calling it good.
How does this effect people who already bought the game? Does Google disable the game on the phones and people get a refund? Does Google pay the fees to the Tetris company and leave the installations? So many details are left untouched.
Once you start despising the jerks, you become one.
I just went to the Android Market, searched for it, found it, and downloaded it.
I'm always amused by how the same geek crowd that will rip a film-maker or author to shreds over re-hashing some common plot device will support to the death a software developer demonstrating the same lack of unoriginality.
"Falling Blocks!" The guy made a Tetris clone and called it "Falling Blocks!"
Where's the pride?
I've heard they are pretty hardcore about protecting Tetris. Even if the concept can't be copyrighted, they can still make a lot of problems. Good luck!
The Tetris Company has absolutely no connection whatsoever with the guy who actually invented Tetris. So it's not their idea either. They're the trademark equivalent of patent trolls, abusing IP to which they have no moral right in order to restrict the free market.
When I was a kid I ran around shooting my friends with a toy gun. thus I own the FPS concept. I order all FPS games removed from all stores.
You believe that gameplay can't be copyrighted. You cherry picked some unnamed and unknown sites that support your believe about gameplay and copyright.
Gameplay cannot be copyrighted. There are solid cases in international copyright case history to support this claim, the first that comes to my mind is the one involving Scrabble and the Italian variant Scarabeo. Mattel went after EG, and lost the case because the game mechanics were not protectable under any form (copyright, trademark, patent).
"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart" (Linus van Pelt)
I think ultimately this is better as it forces developers to create all new game concepts! There were already 35 Tetris clones?! C'moon!
There's definitely much wrong with this situation. Google should allow you to put it back if you file a counter-claim. Also, before removing the alleged infringing content, shouldn't they have contacted you about it first? I'm no DMCA expert or anything, but I thought that the notice was supposed to give you an opportunity to counter-claim before the damage was done to the alleged.
Gameplay can't be copyrighted... not yet... it would still fall into the realm of patents since it's operational in nature. Tetris has definitely exceeded itself and abused the DMCA. I wonder what would happen if a law suit were filed against them for damages immediately? Their DMCA filing is frivolous and malicious. While filing a counter-claim would be good, I think it might also be helpful to demand a settlement from them for their malicious behavior. I imagine if the other 34 tetris-clone makers got together, some attention to the issue could result.
My phone has a keyboard, and the developers of Tetris for Android won't let me use it. Have you ever tried playing Tetris using a touch screen? It's a joke.
What about contacting the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)? They often take these type of cases at no cost.
Do you find joy in driving a new shiny Ferrari?
Do you find joy in driving a new shiny Ferrari bought with money from sales of a game that uses the same ancient concept reused thousands times any less?
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
You have no idea what you're talking about. TTC was founded by Pajitnov amongst others after the rights to Tetris reverted to him.
Assuming I'm understanding your question correctly, I enjoy shiny things more when they're bought with money I got doing something creative rather than derivative.
Over half of those games pulled use the word Tetris in the title (which is a trademark). Of those, some use other trademarks/copyrights in the title (Barbie Tetris, Shrek in Tetris, etc). That would be a red flag right there.
What did the clone makers think would happen when The Tetris Company found out, that they would get a free pass? (I'm not defending The Tetris Company, but a simple google search would have revealed that they have a habit of doing this).
Instead of making a retro-remake try a retro-re imagined. Here are a few ideas off the top of my head:
* Instead of falling bricks - floating balloons - random spikes at the top and you need to try to position them in such a way to not pop. Points for largest structures.
* How about a 1st person perspective version?
* How about a GTA perspective version set in a decrepit city with falling stuff from crumbling buildings.
http://goldchest.sourceforge.net/
----
Goldbox re imagined.
The Tetris Company, LLC has notified Google to remove all Tetris clones from Android Market. I am one of the developers of FallingBlocks, a game with the same gameplay concepts as Tetris.
So, if I understand this right, you've made a Tetris clone. (Unless "the same gameplay concepts" means something other than blocks fall towards the bottom of the screen, you can move them around and the goal is to get full lines across the entire line)
The company that owns Tetris basically said "We own the trademark and have a patent on the game play, they can't make their own version of it and sell it for profit".
Is that correct?
Because if that is the story, then I don't really see how this is a big deal at all.
Sent from your iPad.
... and all this time I've been sending a royalty check to The Tetris Company every time I rotated a falling game piece....
I write code (Ansi C) and design hardware for Atmel/PICs/PSoC devices almost exclusively in work. I have however been wanting to write games, in my own time, because it has always interested me. However the idea for a game i have is quite complex, though not graphically intensive, and im not entirely certain where to start.
However, that would not be the first game a write. I would write tick tack toe, tetris or pong. Why? The game rules are simple and I know how they are handled. It would be a nice intro into writing games. I would then likely modify the game, just to see what I can do and if I and others like it, hell why not try to make a couple quid with it, worse that can happen is market forces say no and I have just the experience of doing it as a reward.
But maybe thats just me.
P.s. If anyone does know of a good intro to game making (Win/Linux/Mac 2D stuff), point me that way?
"I may be full of crap about this game, and I may be wrong, and that's fine." -Jack Thompson
Software isn't art. It's not even a machine.
There are a lot of programming fools out there. Lots of them. They start with "hello world" and grow from there. You can bet every programmer has written things that have been written before just to get a sense of how things work and even get a sense of satisfaction of being able to reproduce it. People have painted thousands of copies of the mona lisa. Guitarists play the same and similar songs to old favorites and will always do so. Duplication and replication is no different. It's not "creative" and it's not art... not original art anyway. But so what? That is the way it works in reality. Actual new and original things are fairly rare.
If you're writing an app for a phone that has a restricted "app store", you are completely at the mercy of whoever is running the app store. They can pull your game (and with it your revenue stream) at any time for any reason, legitimately or not. That's the market you put yourself in, and that means that regardless of moral justifications this sort of story is hardly surprising, and barely news.
You might have gotten into that game by thinking "I keep hearing about the people who are making hundreds of thousands of dollars on stupid phone games". But what you're probably not hearing about are the tons of people who are putting hundreds of hours into building a phone game and hardly making anything.
I am officially gone from
So people can install your FallingBlocks tetris clone without using Android Market. Android is not locked down to only being to install software from one place. You are even free to implement an AlternaMarket. (I don't know do any already exist?)
No. Sometimes the joy of development is just creating something that you set your mind to. Sure, the big picture creative part is great, but it's satisfying either way. And of course developing constantly involves creativity in coming up with solutions to problems, even if the macroscopic game design is a set goal from the start. It's also a really good way to learn, since you know where you want to end up and can initially spend all of your energy getting there.
Compare this to crafting a physical item (like, I dunno, a nice shelf, or anything from Instructables, or even cooking a nice dinner). This is also (ideally) a satisfying exercise, and even though the end result is more or less fixed, it involves a lot of creative thinking about little things.
Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
The old arcade games are getting a new lease on life with these mobile devices. So that's why they are doing this, it's simple economics. I mean whoever wrote Pacman, etc.. never thought they would be able eventually to play it on a phone. This is a new revenue stream and they want in on it. In a way, they wrote the original code, they had the inspiration to do it. So, they do deserve some credits in some form. When someone decides to write a "clone" version of a game.. Maybe he's improving it, or not, it doesn't matter. This person isn't being 'original'. This person took someone else work and recreated it. Bottom line, I would say, if someone goes out of their way to recreate someone else's effort for money, don't be surprised if the creators get a hissy fit about it :)
As usual, slashdot missed the other informative story about how the Tetris Company never paid the real inventor anything.
Yes, you should just contest the takedown with Google, they'll probably reinstate if you explain the situation clearly. And if "tetris" does not appear in you description, the Tetris company might never find you again.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
If I'm not mistaken, that's an article about board games. Not sure how video games translate into that, and how that interacts with the DMCA, which covers... Digital... Media... Copyrights... Still found it interesting, as a wannabe board game designer. Thanks, nonetheless.
What do you expect from a one-hit wonder? Innovation?
Sure, and then when your derivative "getting a sense of how things work" gets pulled, you take the knowledge you've gained and keep working, you don't stop working and try to defend your derivative work.
On the other hand, that's *Android* phones we're speaking about. Not *iPhones*, and I know that Google isn't actively preventing hobbyist from hacking their phones.
In case Google can't re-introduce the applications into the official apps Market, could the authors move their creation to some other place ?
I don't have an android phone so I have to ask :
- Is there anything similar to Palm Pre webOS's "PreWare" (a complete webos app which offers not only a nice interface to official repositories, but also to third party repositories) or "Quick WebOs install" (Userfriendly point'n'click interface to install software through the USB cable, either from 3rd party repositories or from local files) ?
- Or is the Android debugger the only current way to install stuff from outside the Market ?
- Or do the carrier try to cripple and block the 3rd party access on the phone they resell ? (might be a violation of the GPL license covering some component of the Android platform)
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Of course, you make the simple game first, that's just common sense.
Having done that however, would you move onto the complex game idea you want to do, or stop to defend your derivative, "practice run" game?
If you want an easy way to make your own games, I highly recommend Game Maker. If your goal is to make the games, rather than getting your game tech skills up, it's far and away the easiest. Even beyond that, it's a super fast way to prototype game ideas.
There have been a small handful of Tetris-likes made by small developers that have been pulled from the Xbox Live Indie Games service. One was a decent 3D block game.
We figure that they hold issue with you using the same tetrimino shapes, as there have been a couple that were not pulled because they used non-standard pieces.
Aren't tetriminos a mathematical concept? Is this even a defendable copyright? I have no idea.
IIRC, the Tetris Company had a trademark on the name, but it only applied to falling-something games that contained the word "tris", so your game wouldn't fall under that either. Heck, my game "Elementris" doesn't fall under it, because it doesn't have falling stuff. Looks like you got caught in another bogus DCMA takedown, and Google's taking the same "guilty until proven innocent" stance that they take on youtube videos. Right now the Tetris Company is gritting its teeth and hoping all the developers are small-time enough not to sue 'em for misrepresenting their IP.
or use these pages for lawyer fodder:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/ff384126.aspx
http://smallbasic.com/program/?TETRIS
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
It's not about big picture creativity, it's about ANY creativity! Making something that's a clone of someone else's product and enjoying the crafting is one thing, selling it and then complaining when it gets pulled is something else entirely, regardless of your legal right to do so.
And the same applies if you're doing it to learn, you turn and use what you've learned in something else, you don't stop and complain. Or, do you? Yes, that's a question for you . . .
As soon as I read this story, I did a Google search for Falling Blocks for Android, went to his web site, and downloaded the game to my G1. That's the beauty of a phone OS that allows you to choose whether you want to be able to install out-of-market apps. My "trendy" iPhone-using friends wouldn't have had that option -- if Apple says you can't have it, you can't have it.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
however, the DMCA does not FORCE them to put it back up when you file a counter. They can choose not to put it back up
If the service provider doesn't put it back up within 14 business days after its designated agent receives the counter-notice from the subscriber, its immunity under 17 USC 512(g)(1) expires, and the subscriber can sue the service provider.
and since there is so little to gain by putting it back up.. no attorney would ever recommend that they do so.
Where do you draw that conclusion? From the statute, 512(g)(4): "A service provider's compliance with [the counter-notification procedure] shall not subject the service provider to liability for copyright infringement with respect to the material identified in the [original takedown] notice."
The "M" is actually for "Millennium". Digital copyrights and copyrights of printed materials actually differ in only a few ways. What is eligible for copyright in the first place is not one of them.
PDF about computer software copyrights
If I'm not mistaken, that's an article about board games. Not sure how video games translate into that
More things to look up: idea and expression (copyright), scenes a faire (copyright), Lotus v. Borland (copyright), functionality doctrine (trademark), and Dastar v. Fox (trademark).
If I had some points, I'd mod you up here. The legal side of this argument just puts you into an infinite loop, but the sense of accomplishment behind making a clone of a game? Good point. Granted, I'm not saying that making game clones still doesn't require a lot of work, and I know that a lot of developers often get in some good experience making a couple clones, especially on a new platform. And to those that put their clones up for free, that's good, because while downloads from you spell less purchases from the original makers, at least you aren't trying to make a quick buck out of it. But there are many who do game clones only, across many platforms, for profit, with barely an attempt to make things unique, and it just smacks of laziness and desperation. Then again, there are many people out there that are quite skilled at finding holes in their pride, and plugging them with bankrolls of $20s.
If I'm not mistaken, that's an article about board games.
The first paragraph on the linked page is about games in general. Every definition of copyrightable matter I've ever seen also always mention that only the *expression* and not the underlying idea can ever be copyrightable. It's simply one of the fundamental properties of copyright. There's also a UK Court of Appeals ruling confirming that specifically for computer games.
Not sure how video games translate into that, and how that interacts with the DMCA, which covers... Digital... Media... Copyrights...
The DMCA is about the enforcement of copyright. Afaik, it does not extend the scope of what is copyrightable. Computer programs (including games) have been copyrightable since long before the DMCA came into existence.
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... Pong clone.... and see how fast we'll pull it...
"We" referring to Atari or to Magnavox?
If you could copyright game play, I'd imagine the guys that wrote Wolfenstien3d would have more money than God right now.
...but only Apple would do something like this, right Linux droids?
Fucking hypocrites. Like I've said before: Apple and Google inspire the same level of loyalty. The only difference is that Apple fanboys know they're being raped, while Google fanboys still think Google abides by that "do no evil" bullshit from a few years back.
Android is not locked down to only being to install software from one place. You are even free to implement an AlternaMarket.
Unless your carrier has customized your phone's operating system to remove "Unknown sources".
I'm downloading it to my HTC Desire as I type. Doesn't look pulled to me.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
Bullocks, yeah, the M means Millennium. It seemed proper to go with Media. I dunno. No sleep and no food make Bill somethin' somethin'...
If you could copyright game play, I'd imagine the guys that wrote Wolfenstien3d would have more money than God right now.
Even without copyright on gameplay, John Carmack managed to get pretty close to that given that he has his own aerospace company :)
Donate free food here
Well, that's a different matter and it's specifically not the question you asked :) Having said that, if you've created something others might enjoy and a company is, without authority, taking that away, of course you have the right to complain. Stopping isn't an issue, you can complain about their behaviour and work on new things at the same time.
Get yourself a lawyer. If you're running a business of almost any kind, you should have a good relationship with a lawyer. If you're running a software business it's even more important because software is a freaking minefield of legal actions these days and you need an expert to help you wade through the crap. Even if "conventional wisdom" tells you that you should be in the clear, you should have an expert examine their claims against you. You may actually not be in the clear despite what conventional wisdom and your review of layman websites suggests. Having a lawyer look over what your game does and what their claims against you are can protect you in a lot of ways. He'll be able to point out ways that you might be in violation and how you can fix it (for example if you're using their trademarked name "Tetris" in your advertising or your descriptions of the game, you may not be violating their trademark). And if you are in the clear he can craft a response to them bullet-pointing exactly why you're not in violation and why it isn't a problem. That way their lawyers know that you're serious about protecting yourself and that if they want to take it further you're going to be competently represented and that they're probably not going to have an actual case.
If you can't afford a lawyer, you may want to seriously reconsider your business model. Writing clones of games is a nice exercise for learning how to program, but if you're selling them you are definitely opening yourself up to the potential for legal action. Even if the legal action is frivolous, if you can't defend yourself it doesn't matter. That's not how it's supposed to work ideally, but it's a cold hard fact of life (at least in the US) that the business world is mostly a "might makes right" arena and "might" is measured in dollars. You could end up wasting a lot of time and money over something that isn't worth wasting the time and money on if you aren't careful.
Me and 2 other computer scientist students created Super Xblox 360. Another falling block game, it was ripped from the market 7 days after it was up.
With no reason why, we called and emailed Microsoft, finally got through to someone, but they would just feed us more BS how the game infringed, but never would give examples of how.
Now the game sucks because we had to alter it, so that it completely looked different.
After months of work it is back up but just not the same game that I wanted to release.
www.superxblox360.com
I just checked out this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tetris_Company
and I noticed the reference to this slashdot article at the bottom.
Wow. That's fast.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
Hello everyone. AFAIK, gameplay cannot be copyrighted, but could be patented. Besides never being patented, patents last for 20 years, and the game was made on 1985, the patent would be over by now. Why cloning a 25 year old game? The answer is simple. People want to play it. In fact, at first i didnt find any satisfactory Tetris on Android market and decided to make my own. Then i thought it was good and put it on Android Market. Besides some lousy ads, i dont make money with the game. I could file a counter-notice, but that could lead The Tetris Company LLC to a law suit against me, and i dont have time or money for that. The game is available on our website, if anyone wants to download. http://mobplug.com/downloads/FallingBlocks.apk
This method works for buying games from any country:
* Go online and create a google checkout account
* Take out your sim card
* Connect to the market
* Find paid app
* Buy paid app
* Download and install paid app
* Put sim card back in
* Enjoy paid app
Yeah, and why do so many painters paint bowls of fruit? It's been done to death!
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
A painting in your own style of a bowl of fruit != making a Tetris clone but swapping the art out.
Why do so many Slashdot commenters come up with a variation on an analogy for the same issue? It's been done to death! And yes, yours is no more original than the others :P
You could of course place it on a server of your own and distribute it, I don't think Google would try to stop you. I'm a Nokia user and download apps from all over the internet, but never used the official OVI appstore. You can only access it from your phone and can't store installers for backup purposes from there, no thanks.
Gameplay cannot be copyrighted. There are solid cases in international copyright case history to support this claim, the first that comes to my mind is the one involving Scrabble and the Italian variant Scarabeo.
While gameplay can't be copyrighted, there are other aspects that can. For example, in the case of another Scrabble clone, Scrabulous (now Lexulous), they had to change the board layout to avoid infringement. In this case, that might mean the Tetris people could have a claim to the specific block shapes used. The blocks are relatively simple in nature, but still very distinctive. That's just idle, amateur speculation, though.
The amount of remakes of games should answer that question - no. Some people just like recreating old games.
Fair enough, it just seems to me that the effort would be much better spent working on a new, original game than defending the old clone.
And technically you can do both, but in my experience the people to take the complaining route do not do both at the same time.
I believe we should discourage that, with an iron fist. ;)
The apps were pulled off the market because of a DMCA take-down notice.
If these apps were in fact not using any trademarks or copyrights held by The Tetris Company, their creators should file DMCA counter-notices.
Then, The Tetris Company has to challenge it in court if they want to proceed.
Such a lawsuit would hopefully finally put an end to the FUD claims that The Tetris Company owns anything that even vaguely looks like Tetris. (and set a precedent for similar lawsuits over other game designs)
I still see the game listed in the Market... I just checked, and its there!
I am the author of PowerBlocks for the iPhone. My game with in the iPhone app store from last year until April of this year, when a lawyer from The Tetris Company LLC emailed me, telling me that my game infringed on their copyright for Tetris. To avoid a legal fight, I pulled my app right away.
I just thought that was kind of strange since I've been seeing Tetris clones all over the place since I was a kid. Why the sudden attack on games similar to the original Tetris?
How can they have rights to any "falling blocks" game? I don't know if it was just a scare tactic but I didn't want to go to court and risk it. It took me 4 days to make the damn thing anyway.
Um yeah I really just wanted to answer your question about whether or not it can be satisfying to create a clone (whether it was rhetorical or not). It can be satisfying. And it can still be creative, because programming is always a creative task to some degree.
Whether you think it's right or wrong, I don't really care.
Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
Hey, I'm on the same boat. I also made a really awesome game of falling 4th order polyominoes (tetris style game) called BitBlocks. It was wildly successful, had much better ratings than even the official Tetris game by EA. My game was on the Android Market for 3 months, and became one of the top 5 games for the Android. On March 9th it got removed from the Android Market.
Your options are limited. You can't fight The Tetris Company because you can't afford the lawyer expenses. If you did have the money to fight The Tetris Company, you would surely win in court, but the court victory would be a loss for The Tetris Company as well as you because it would mean The Tetris Company no longer has any authority to stop people from making falling block games and there would be a flood of falling block games on the market, perhaps some even better than your game. (See Lotus vs Borland, in the end Borland won, but Lotus and Borland both lost when Microsoft came out with Excel)
What The Tetris Company is doing is anti-competitive. Under The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, monopolizing a trade using anti-competitive practices is a felony punishable by up to $10,000,000 fine and three year jail sentence. According to DOJ web site:
The Sherman Act also makes it a crime to monopolize any part of interstate commerce. An unlawful monopoly exists when only one firm controls the market for a product or service, and it has obtained that market power, not because its product or service is superior to others, but by suppressing competition with anticompetitive conduct.
(http://www.justice.gov/atr/laws.htm) -- that paragraph entirely describes what The Tetris Company is doing with falling block games.
I don't know if the DOJ will care or even lift a finger, but it's worth a try and if people on slashdot can create a big enough wave perhaps they will be swayed to investigate The Tetris Company. You can report antitrust concern here: http://www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm
So I urge all slashdotters to file a complaint with the Department of Justice. Show you care about tetris, file a complaint against The Tetris Company! It's time we put an end to their monopoly.
Google has to respond promptly to a DMCA complaint or risk potential legal action. Once the company receives an infringement notice, the safest thing for them to do is to pull the content and ask the potential infringer to clarify their ownership of said content. It's a frustrating waste of time, because you have to make a coherent argument that copyright and trademarks have not been infringed. However, once you have filed your response, the tables turn and Google has to act on your submission -- if Tetris LLC can't demonstrate clearly *how* your game infringes, then the onus is on Google to resume sales. Of course, all of this could take weeks or months and will impact your income (and mental health) while it plays out.
That said, the DMCA seems to be a very effective tool to remove genuinely infringing content - I've used it twice to get illegal copies of my work removed from sites, and the process took less than 12 hours in both cases.
how can people find satisfaction in making clones of games?
Because the official Tetris app costs $10 and the clones are free (gifts to the world)?
Either way you should hold off on the righteous indignation until you give up your opinions and educate yourself on the matter at hand.
And you should hold off on the spouting bullshit before until you know what the hell you are talking about.
There is a war going on for your mind.
They are just complying with the law, however dumb it might be.
Complying with the copyright holder's takedown request shields Google from any possible liability. The law is structured in such a way that copyright holders have an unfair share of power in the whole affair, while the providers of internet services are caught in the middle where the law implies a legal obligation to assume that the takedown notice is a legitimate claim. At least that's my understanding of the DMCA.
"It's a shame that The Tetris Company, LLC uses its power to stop developers from creating good and free games for Android users."
What exactly is good about yet another Tetris clone?
Not only is this a misuse of the DMCA, it is a purposeful misrepresentation made to cause action that would otherwise not be carried out, which is the LEGAL DEFINITION OF FRAUD. Tetris Co can get put in some very hot water for this one.
The ad on the RSS feed for this story was for a Tetris clone called 99 Bricks. Irony?
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
"blah...blah... has notified Google/Apple to remove all blah... blah... from Android Market/the App Store. I am one of the developers of blah... blah... I have received an email warning that my blah... was suspended from Android Market/The App Store due to a violation of...
Did this get mixed up I thought Apple and the app store did stuff like this. I thought Google was open, free and...
http://p8ste.com - Web based Clipboard
Even though it's not on the market, My G1(Android) allows me to put applications on it from any source I choose. I need to turbn that feature on, but it's part of the purchased device and in no way voids my warrenty.
So I could find a copy through any online source.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Oh Oh. Smug Alert.
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
He will NOT be happy.
Arbitrary DMCA takedowns should be completely balanced by the devs being able to counter. You get DMCA takedowned. You counter and it's back until a lawsuit says take it down.
Problem is, that this not a web host, where 17 USC 512(g) would apply.
The statute doesn't refer to a "web host"; it refers to a "service provider" that offers "storage at the direction of a user of material that resides on a system or network controlled or operated by or for the service provider". Google provides such a service to developers publishing on Android Market. And in any case, only such a "service provider" is eligible for the 512(c) safe harbor in the first place.
Naturally the ad under this /. story is for an online tetris clone. http://twitpic.com/1ruas4
They just indiscriminately fire C&D letters like shotgun blasts and use them to anti-competitive effect.
Even at protest videos like this one. But counter-notices work for at least YouTube, which shares a corporate parent with Android Market.
Feist
And Lotus v. Borland.
I'd be less critical of the DMCA if they had a penalty, $10,000 plus costs, for reckless or malicious take-down notices.
Notices to hosting or search providers under 17 USC 512 are given under penalty of perjury. Perjury is a crime with a penalty of up to five years in pound-me-in-the-behind prison.
But based on my experience with Youtube (i.e. Google), they just ignore counter-claims
I've been able to get a Tetris-related video restored on a counter-notice. It took significantly longer than the federally mandated 14 business days, and it took a follow-up e-mail to copyright at youtube.com, but at least it's back up.
Android Market > Top Free > Brain & Puzzle > FallingBlocks, click it, and MobPlug is listed as the developer. Or do apps show up on the PC view of the site even if they have been deleted from the version on the handset?
The makers of Scarabeo had to change the game. It's a bigger board, and a different number of tile. the board is now 17x17. There are also 14 A instead of 12 As as well as a variety of other changes. Those changes were made because of the mattel suit. The original Scarabeo franchise was 'returned' to Mattel.
You can patent gameplay. WoTC owns the patent on "tapping" in a collectible card game, and monopoly was patented in 1920 or some such.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The written rules can be copyrighted.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
. If anyone does know of a good intro to game making (Win/Linux/Mac 2D stuff), point me that way?
Pygame is pretty good; it's easy, clean, and the result is cross platform!
I hadn't come across Falling Blocks, but thanks the the Tetris Company's actions I know now about it, and have downloaded and installed it (from the marketplace, but I am in the UK) on my HTC Hero. So thank you!
A latent existence
The written rules can be copyrighted.
Yes, you cannot just copy the rulebook and include it with your game (nor plagiarise it).
However, that does not mean that another game that follows those exact same rules infringes on the copyright of the former. It's only the expression of the rules that is copyrighted (both in the form of the manual and the game itself), not the rules themselves.
Hence, my original answer still stands: no, gameplay cannot be copyrighted.
Donate free food here
As everyone knows, this has been done before and we've (including actual lawyers involved) already years ago concluded that this company has no copyright on the gameplay or concept or anything. What they have is trademark(s) so staying out of actually using their name(s) is probably a clever idea.
Old data from 2006 when Tetris LLC sent mail to the Rockbox project: http://lwn.net/Articles/200179/
As others have mentioned: a common practice that seems to be going on when some of these law firms contact you and are going out on a limb, is that they attach a contract which they want you to sign and agree to things, as if you actually go ahead and do that and you wouldn't stick to that agreement, you're suddenly violating contract law.
One can patent game play, and Konami is making plenty of royalties licensing the GuitarFreaks and DrumMania patents to Activision for Guitar Hero. Konami's DDR patent is also why In the Groove got shut down. But patents last only 20 years, and Tetris has been around since 1984.
And other people think the changes that The Tetris Company has required over the past decade have destroyed the challenge of the game.>
Tetris: The Grandmaster 3: Terror Instinct still seems difficult to me, especially with invisible blocks.
I'm talking about things like Tetris DS and Tetris Party with their infinite spin mechanic (explained on this Hard Drop Wiki page) and a bag randomizer that allows for a play pattern that can provably continue forever. TGM3 lets the player turn these off, but it's licensed only in Japan.
Immunity is from LIABILITY, not from being sued.
The advantage of immunity is that a service provider can get disputes cleared up in summary judgment before anyone even thinks of a trial.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/linumes/
So why not just create your own Android Market where your renegade Tetris games can be downloaded and played... Anyone can make an Android Market and anyone can download Android apps to their lovely Android handsets whether or not they have been blessed by Google. I can provide the server for such an adventure as well as some development time if you can provide the renegade apps.
I am typing this on my IBM think pad, you insensitive clod!
Nearly always it is because they were ignorant of historical litigation for that particular game concept.
The clones are about as close to Tetris as Fighter's History was to Street Fighter II, yet Capcom lost.
For me this seems fairly similar to claiming that Doom, Quake and a number of other FPS games should not exist because they're clones of Wolf3D.
Yeah... if you've never played any of them. A tetris clone has identical gameplay in all respects
Well, not quite.
The official versions of Tetris have changed some of the rules over the years. Most Tetris clones are more like Tetris circa 1990, which is actually what a lot of the experienced players want.
Bow-ties are cool.
Have you submitted a 512(g) counter-notification yet? The Tetris Company's M.O. has been to leave free apps alone after a counter-notification, at least in the cases that I have observed.
But before you do that, make the app truly "falling blocks" and not exclusively a Tetris clone. Put a Puyo clone, a Tetris clone, a Dr. Mario clone, and a Columns clone in the same app, and require a half hour of play on the other rules before the Tetris rules become available. You can even innovate, making a mode that alternates between Tetris and Puyo on a timer, and the blocks in one mode become garbage blocks in the other and must be cleared out using that mode's rules for clearing garbage.
The blocks are as distinctive as all the non negative single digit numbers in the decimal system - actually, less so - there are 10 possible digits for the latter, whearas there are only 5 possible tetronimoes.
The Tetris blocks are based on the mathematical entities known as polyominos, specifically, the subgroup containing 5 orthogonally connected squares (not counting reflections and rotations).
It should be as patentable and copyright as PI - ie not at all, since it is strongly based on a branch of mathematics, specifically on the problem of how to tile such shapes, which has been the subject of a few papers, such as this and this
I'd be on to Google to claim they equally infringe YOUR game and Google them to drop their game too.
Most versions of emacs have a tetris game built in. I don't have an android phone but it must have emacs by now....
M-X tetris
(or escape "x" then type tetris.
take that vi ! (i kid... )
I mean whoever wrote Pacman, etc.. never thought they would be able eventually to play it on a phone.
Why not, we were playing it on watches in the 80s?
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Nelsonic/PacMan.htm
[UID-HeinzIntel]
As far as I know, Tetris has a rightful case against clones that use "tris" in the name, as well as the unique shapes of the blocks. The "tris" is part of their trademark, and the block shapes is "trade dress". Neither of these things call under copyright though (unless they are asserting copyright of those shapes?!?!) so it's not a DMCA issue.
Well I guess I wont be downloading a tetris app for my android any time soon. What else will they think of blocking or removing from these markets. Maybe there needs to be an open market for smart phones like getjar.
Only 'flamers' flame!
Does slashdot hate my posts?
I put a few months into something that might be called a tetris clone for the iPhone and iPad. It's not in the store because it too closely resembles tetris. It has a grid, and some square blocks. They fall, sometimes. Total hogwash. If you want to play it, send me your device id (slashdot-tetris-clone@kraln.com)
What exactly did the parent poster say that was BS? He told the author to go bone up on the facts and understand his situation instead of just whining about it. How is that BS? It seems pretty logical to me.
Actually, the generic randomizer could do that as well, and in some cases can be abused.
Luck manipulation works in tool-assisted speedruns of Tetris for NES because the game mixes keypresses into the PRNG's entropy pool. Some other games seed the PRNG only once; the entire piece sequence is predetermined from READY GO.
It also prevents complaints about games having a rigged random number generator if the pieces aren't distributed evenly.
True, luck based cop-outs are harder on bag than on the original randomizer. But apparently, BPS chose bag over the history based randomizer used by TGM designed to choose one of the least recently used pieces. The advantage of LRU over the bag randomizer is that an LRU randomizer 1. won't generate the sort of SZSZ clumps at the "seams" between bags, and 2. doesn't have the "Playing forever" pattern. That's part of why I chose an LRU randomizer for my own Tetris clone for NES. LRU doesn't guarantee strictly even distribution, but it is still far more even than the original memoryless algorithm. I can think of a few other compromise algorithms, such as keeping a bag of 14 pieces, drawing seven out, and adding all seven pieces once seven are left in the bag.
I wrote a Tetris(R) clone for the HP 28 in 1992. Amazingly, it's still available for download!
http://www.hpcalc.org/details.php?id=279
The market is a bit smaller for my version these days, but I'd better give a heads up to my lawyer. Just in case.
Evil is as eval("does");
Just a warning I though: Don't use IDLE. It's the most horrific IDE I've ever had the misfortune of coming across.
you expected nothing to happen? Are you stupid?
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
If they didn't comply with the formal communication that states that the work is not infringing, then you could criticize Google for "policing the internet", but there is no evidence that there was a formal document refuting infringement.
Google was acting in compliance with a dumb law, so criticize the law, the lawmakers, and the copyright holders, but there is no reason here to criticize those forced to follow it.
I found it: US Patent 6,410,835. It has some hardware claims about the construction of the controller, followed by more software-ish claims starting at 28.
This is what sucks about Android -- wading through a million clones of the same game, trying to find one that isn't a piece of shit. Combine that with the publishers that stick a fuckload of versions of the same game with slightly different, usually copyrighted, images (I'm looking at you, stupid slide and jigsaw puzzles!), and it's no wonder that the state of games on Android is what it is.
Like it or not, the Tetris Company is in the right here. Hell, even I've written a Tetris clone in the past, but it's time for Android developers to actually be creative for once, instead of copying something that's already been done to death.
And how do you put a corporation in pound-me-in-the-butt prison?
The feds could pierce, find whoever in the company was responsible for the crime, and put him on trial.
1) Join the IGDA. Notify the IGDA.
2) Join the EFF. Notify the EFF.
3) Join the FSF. Notify the FSF.
4) Find the other Tetris clones who were shut down and pass this same advice to them.
5) With legal assistance, file a DMCA counter-claim. That will get your app back-up in the store. (Side-effect: once you are back up on the store, you will likely be the only one for a while. So whoever fights back gets the most downloads).
Hopefully, one or all of the above can provide legal aid.
I made a clone as a bookmarklet.
If you have Firefox (and JavaScript enabled) it plays from the address bar or a bookmark.
Sadly, the character limit of this comment box prevents me from posting it here, but you can get it from another post of mine.
Tetris is so simple that it's my "Hello World".
Every time I learn a new programming language I make another Tetris clone; It has all of the basic elements of any game: game logic, grahics, animation, user input and feedback.
TFA clearly illustrates abuse of the DMCA. The owners of Tetris clearly know that they're abusing the DMCA -- they've been bullying hobbyists for quite some time. "Fuck 'em," I say. Put your app on your own website and link to it from a free app titled, "Say no to Tetris DMCA bullying."
P.S. Everyone has permission to use my clone's code however they see fit ;-)
Also Brazil isn't listed in the list of supported locations for free publishers, I wonder how you were able to publish your app in the first place (and pay the $25 Android Market fee if Google Checkout doesn't work). I'm asking this because I'm from Brazil as well and I'd like to register as a free app publisher, but apparently Google wouldn't allow me to.
Seriously, what sort of accomplishment is it writing clone # zillion of a popular game? Go do something useful and come up with something original, or get out of game "development."
its like saying all game makers should give royalities to wolfestein 3d maker, because thay are all basically same thing, shooting bad guys in 3d game levels
That's what you get for buying into the idea of the moderated, controlled app store. Someone can control what you can put on what is supposed to be YOUR machine. That's why I won't own any Cripple products, like the iFad, iTampon, iPhony, nor will I buy a Sony Gaystation, nor any AndroidBS based equipment, etc. If I own it, I can do whatever the fuck I want with it, that's the rule. If your system is designed to allow someone else to restrict what I can do, then fuck you and fuck your system. I have a PC with Linux, and I do what the fuck I want with it. I dual boot into WinDOS to play games, (just about all it's good for) and eschew anything with a "marketplace," for that exact reason. The DMCA (Disgusting Money Control Act) and the people who use/abuse it have the ability to stop you from doing what you want, but not me. Want the latest, hotest movies, music, etc., FREE? Don't *download* them or get them from a "market," etc., just share amongst yourselves. When I was a kid and played games, my friends and I had a neat way of not all having to pay the outrageous cost of buying them. We simply traded them. When I got tired of playing Ultima III, for example, I traded it to someone for BardsTale II, and he got Ultima III in exchange for BardsTale II, etc. Sure, ONE of us had to pay for any given copy of a title, but we didn't ALL have to pay, and no one could have sued any of us because there was no electronic trail for some bitch-shyster to follow. End-of-Rant.
So you're complaining that you stole someone else's idea and now they are telling you to stop? You did not create Tetris. You copied it. Create your own original game and you will not have that problem. No sympathy from me.