>From the same copyright page that was quoted (http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl108.html);
"Some material prepared in connection with a game may be subject to copyright if it contains a sufficient amount of literary or pictorial expression. For example, the text matter describing the rules of the game, or the pictorial matter appearing on the gameboard or container, may be registrable." To me that covers block shapes, multi-coloured blocks, removal filled lines, etc., etc., etc. Al. --- * Written an Android App? - List it at http://andappstore.com/ * ====== Funky Android Limited is registered in England & Wales with the company number 6741909. The registered head office is Kemp House, 152-160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, UK. The views expressed in this email are those of the author and not necessarily those of Funky Android Limited, it's associates, or it's subsidiaries. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Al Sutton Sent: 08 April 2009 07:56 To: [email protected] Subject: [android-developers] Re: Apps labeled as Tetris Clones removed from Android Market I still remember the Lotus Look & Feel lawsuits that put a couple of companies out of business in the late 80's early 90's; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Development_Corporation#Look_and_Feel Hence why I'm always wary of look and feel claims. As for the statement you've quoted, as I read it we're not talking about the idea of a "game to fit blocks together", nor the name Tetris, nor the G1s input methods. Monolith Android copies every aspect of Tetris down to the shapes of the block, removal of full lines, multi coloured blocks, etc., etc., etc. Yes, it adds a few features and the actual graphics, music, etc are not lifted directly from a Tetris implementation, but as I see it it's like building and selling a car that looks like a Porsche but with slightly different shaped headlights and doors. Given that the Tetris company already have a sidekick implementation I guess they're clearing the way for a G1 implementation by removing any competition. Al. P.S. Personally I'd rather see all this effort go into something new and original, not recycling an idea that as the OP mentioned is over 20 years old. --- * Written an Android App? - List it at http://andappstore.com/ * ====== Funky Android Limited is registered in England & Wales with the company number 6741909. The registered head office is Kemp House, 152-160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, UK. The views expressed in this email are those of the author and not necessarily those of Funky Android Limited, it's associates, or it's subsidiaries. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of ewjordan Sent: 07 April 2009 23:04 To: Android Developers Subject: [android-developers] Re: Apps labeled as Tetris Clones removed from Android Market On Apr 7, 11:31 am, "Al Sutton" <[email protected]> wrote: > Implementations can be copyrighted which is where there claim comes from. Yes, implementations may be copyrighted, but unless these apps actually use code stolen from an official Tetris release, they are not infringing against these copyrights. A game's mechanics absolutely positively may not be copyrighted. I quote straight from the US Copyright Office: "The idea for a game is not protected by copyright. The same is true of the name or title given to the game and of the method or methods for playing it." (http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl108.html) TTC is (and has been, for quite some time) trying to churn copyright and trademark together into some muddy mixture of general IP protection so they can assert ownership over the _idea_ itself, but this is not legally valid. As mentioned previously, this is the type of thing that would require a patent, but they don't have one, so they're instead banking on the fact that the people they're going after don't have the resources to fight them. Google's hands are tied, since they have to comply with DMCA requests by default. Counter-notifications are the way to go, and should effectively force the issue - recall, Apple yanked the apps by its own decision, so a counter-claim means nothing, whereas Google is simply pulling apps to comply with DMCA. There's a _huge_ difference there. > > Having seen the demo video of your game I can see why they would > appear to have a reasonable basis for their case. You'd added some > fancy features, but the basic game play is the same right down to the block shapes. > > My advice, and I'm not a lawyer, is to start work on something > original because I don't see Google letting you back in the market > with your app any time soon. > > Al. > --- > > * Written an Android App? - List it athttp://andappstore.com/* > > ====== > Funky Android Limited is registered in England & Wales with the > company number 6741909. The registered head office is Kemp House, > 152-160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, UK. > > The views expressed in this email are those of the author and not > necessarily those of Funky Android Limited, it's associates, or it's > subsidiaries. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > Tasos.Kleisas > Sent: 07 April 2009 16:22 > To: Android Developers > Subject: [android-developers] Re: Apps labeled as Tetris Clones > removed from Android Market > > Ideas cannot be copyrighted, only patented. But the Tetris Company > does not have a patent. And game concepts are not patentable. Take a > look > athttp://desiree47.wordpress.com/andhttp://abednarz.net/wp/34/They > claim a look and feel copyright claim, but the game art, sounds and music have nothing to do with tetris. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. 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