Plagiarism in games (Tetris and so on)

General Discussions
#1

Hello,

I have been working on my Tetris applet. I would like to make it part of contents on my website. I have read that it is forbidden to call this game with words containing “tris”. I also see some other websites having Tetris free to play. Is it illegal if I upload my Tetris? Would it cause me any trouble? I wanted to add an arrange to my Tetris with characters from an Anime.

My another concern is parody. If I make a game using characters from Anime, would this give me trouble? I do understand that it depends on the copyright rule they have, but I would like to ask if anyone has anything to share regarding this. Also, what if I make a game with similar concepts/rules, but different characters, stages, and so on.

Thanks in advance.

#2

Whatever you do, stay far far away from Disney content.

#3

The tetris part is not porblem I think. I see everyone can make clone of tetris, space invader, asteroid and so on. So adapting their gameplay is normal. But your anime char can be. You better come with your own graphic designs.

On other way, as the same fan of anime, I can suggest you if you still want to go with that characters, label your game with “Fan Made” and make it free without ads inside. I see some games on this kind (parody) manage to survive with that way. I remember I played tetris haruhi ver :smiley:

#4

A tetromino-based game whose name includes “tetr” or “tris” and which becomes highly visible (i.e. successful) is likely to be sued for trademark infringement. It is safer to call it something completely different.

#5

Bahaha!

I did a study on Disney in my copyright laws subject at university. Evil, evil company. The lengths they are willing to go to, to prevent Mickey from becoming public property is inconceivable. It is because of them that copyright is seen as a weapon in most peoples eyes and not a method to protect intellectual property. Best of all is that all their stories have been stolen from childrens bed time stories from around the world and now they are like f*$k you all we own this now.

Sorry to deter from the subject matter, I just couldnt resist an anti Disney rant.

To answer your copyright question however, yes in a court of law you could be held accountable for your Tetris clone, especially if you call it “Tetris”. The thing to keep in mind is that you are pretty much guaranteed safety until the point where your clone starts making some serious $$$. At which point the fine creators of Tetris will come knocking on your door for their share.

#6

Didn’t the creator get his work stolen by the USSR ? And since the USSR is dead, who owns the tetris trademark/copyright (whats the difference between the two?) ?

edit : forgot it’s not URSS in English but USSR, sry

#7

The Tetris Company issues legal threats - whether they have any real basis or not is irrelevant if you don’t have money to pay lawyers.

Trademark is about protecting names and logos - in essence, protecting the brand. Copyright is about protecting artwork and code - the product.

#8

First, keep in mind that web forums are the absolute best source of legal advice. :slight_smile:

To complete what pjt33 has said, patents are about protecting the ideas.

For example, Hasbro has a patent on the rules of the Magic: The Gathering card game. You cannot create a game using Magic’s rules until 2015, when the patent expires. After that, you can use the rules of Magic for your own game, but you can’t use any of the card text or art, as that is covered by a copyright. You’ll have to wait 70 years to use their copyrighted material. And of course, you can’t use the Magic name or logo, ever.

You can copy the rules/gameplay of any game, as long as it is not patented. You can search here:
http://www.google.com/patents
There is no patent on Tetris (or Asteroids, etc), so go ahead and copy its gameplay. You cannot use the art from any Tetris game, as it is copyrighted. You cannot use the name Tetris, as this is a trademark. Using the suffix “tris” is questionable. You might be able to get away with it. The argument would probably be that SuperCooltris is too similar to Tetris and takes away market share from the establish brand by confusing consumers.

#9

ReBirth
Including the word, “Fan-Made” sounds good. However, I do plan to have ads on my website(adsense and amazon affiliate). I could just exclude the ads on the page with Tetris game.

philfrei, Christopher
Thanks for interesting information. I will definitely stay away from Disney ;D

pjt33, Nate
I had never thought about patent. Thanks a lot for your advise and clear explanation. Basically as far as Tetris, I can make a game with same rule as Tetris and have on my website, but I have to name it something that doesn’t associate with “Tetris” at all. Also no copied graphics from Tetris. I have a question to you guys. What would you guys say if I make a Tetris(of course using different name) for example, with a character from Japanese anime?(Using graphics and voice of this character) According to what Nate explained, many cases would be forbidden. However, I see a lot of people including anime characters into their own game. Though I have also seen people avoiding sharing the game and just having a video to show what he made. I plan to have ads which I can still take off from the specific page containing this game. I’m pretty sure it would be illegal since I could make some money from using this anime’s character. Would there be anyway to have a game like this on my website for people to play? I would like to at least upload a video of the gameplay.

Thanks guys!!

#10

[quote=“miga,post:9,topic:36734”]
You need a license to use the anime content legally, because it is copyrighted. Create your own content if you want be legal.

Note that the DCMA requires someone you are infringing to issue you a takedown notice before suing you. Go ahead and copy whatever you want, but take it down if you receive a notice.

#11

Hello,
Why not ask the rightsholder, if it’s alright for him to use a few graphics in your game?
Because it’s a kind of advertise I don’t see why he should say no, at least not if it’s a good and fun game.

biro

#12

The Tetris Company sued Apple last year over their iPhone Tetris app, and did the same with the Android store not too long ago.

That being said, I think if you make it clear you’re not making money with it / made it just for fun you should be fine, as long as it doesn’t get to be super-popular and 100 000 people start playing it.

And either way, they’re more likely to send you a cease-and-desist notice first rather than suing right away.

(By the way, yes, the USSR “stole” the rights to Tetris, but after the end of the Soviet Union the Tetris Company was founded - by the actual inventor of Tetris, I think.)

#13

Actually, I remember reading they trademarked several aspects of the gameplay, such as “puzzle using blocks made up of four squares falling down”.

#14

The nice part about the DCMA is they must send you a take down notice before suing you. This is what enables YouTube to not get sued over the videos people upload.

Gameplay (game rules) cannot be trademarked. They can only be patented. Patents last 20 years. Tetris came out in 1986. Tetris gameplay is not patented and can be copied.

#15

I’m not sure about that. I think they re-issued the patents when the Tetris Company was founded. (In '96 I think?)

#16

Actually this article explains it better than I could. :stuck_out_tongue:

#17

There they talk about something called “trade dress”, which I’m not familiar with. Wikipedia says it is like a trademark. If the overall style of your game is so similar to an established brand that it could confuse consumers, you may be infringing. There is a vague line (like most software legal stuff) between the game rules/idea (which is patentable) and the overall game look/feel (which is apparently trade dress). For a game as simple as Tetris, these two things seem to nearly be the same. If you fought them properly, you might win.

Look at what happened with Scrabble. There are many mobile phone games that are exactly like Scrabble, except they can’t use the same bonus square configuration on the game board. If Tetris could win their trade dress against Blockles, it certainly seems like Scrabble could win against the mobile apps. Scrabble is owned by Hasbro, which is a ginormous company, so I imagine if they thought they could win, they would try.

Funny thing about Scrabble, it is owned by Hasbro in the US and Canada, and Mattel everywhere else in the world. So for online gaming, US and Canada players can’t play with the rest of the world. This gives the knock offs that just use a modified game board a big advantage over the real deal, as anyone in the world can use their app.

#18

Although I suspect that more people have played Tetris clones than the “real thing”, so if you defend it properly you can probably get the “trade dress” declared non-distinctive. (Also, as someone already commented on the Gamasutra article, half the things they claim as their “trade dress” are functional).

#19

In China, they use lots of Disney IP without license or permission. China seems to love mickey copies.

#20

Maybe that will change (but probably not), as they have started building a Disneyland in Beijing. I work at Disney. :slight_smile: