please don't make games with the tetris tetronimos or the tetris game board size. those are, for whatever fucking reason, allowed to be trademarked by the tetris foundation and they aren't very nice about it they shut down a git repo of a custom OS made for a YT video cause it came with tetris - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

eniko.bsky.social • 63 days ago

please don't make games with the tetris tetronimos or the tetris game board size. those are, for whatever fucking reason, allowed to be trademarked by the tetris foundation and they aren't very nice about it

they shut down a git repo of a custom OS made for a YT video cause it came with tetris

Comments

trist.am•63 days ago

The Tetris company has established some truly wild restrictions, but it is worth keeping in mind that game mechanics are not themselves copyrightable

trist.am•63 days ago

the tetronimo shapes are fair game (as long as you don’t call them that, because the name ‘tetronimo’ is of course trademarked, or use the Tetris colours, or form lines that flash as they disappear, and so on…)

deepshock.bsky.social•63 days ago

I think their official word is Tetrimino.

trist.am•62 days ago

Hah, yes, at least they didn’t trademark the geometrical concept itself

eniko.bsky.social•62 days ago

I'm pretty sure if you use the tetris block shapes they can go after you no matter what you call them

trist.am•62 days ago

Ars has a pretty good overview of the lawsuit, and exactly what it was judged to cover https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/06/defining-tetris-how-courts-judge-gaming-clones/

trist.am•62 days ago

Cloning Tetris as a whole puts you on shaky ground, but using tetronimos in a non-Tetris context is fine

eniko.bsky.social•62 days ago

Even if that's legally true, there's nothing stopping them from sending a cease and desist that oversteps. And they do and have done that. And in that case, what are you gonna do? Risk them taking you to court over it?

trist.am•62 days ago

Indeed, but it’s worth considering that risk exists with pretty much every game in existence. Best one can do is make sure to differentiate games from their direct influences, and hope not to run afoul of IP trolls 🤷‍♀️

waspventman.co.uk•63 days ago

I’m going to kill John Tetris

scribescales.bsky.social•63 days ago

*Soviet Tetris

boobachu.bsky.social•63 days ago

*Punished Soviet (Capitalist) Tetris

curseofremy.bsky.social•63 days ago

yeah I have a backup plan if that happens for Hot Wax but I recognize this is good advice for anyone trying to make money off a tetrislike

eniko.bsky.social•63 days ago

yeah, i wasn't calling you out specifically although it did make me think of it and figure there are probably people out there who don't know about this

shino1.bsky.social•62 days ago

Oh, it's actually illegal. Game rules aren't copyrightable and trademarks only applies to advertising/branding. It's just abusing the fact that small developers don't have power to fight them in court.

eniko.bsky.social•62 days ago

They have a trademark though, because the shape of the blocks is part of the recognizable tetris brand, which is separate from copyright

asie.pl•61 days ago

They don't have a trademark on tetromino shapes in general. Maybe if you count the specific colors, not sure.

There's a devious trick they do where they constantly refer to them as "tetriminoes" (with an i), which IS a trademarked term, and not "tetrominoes" (with an o), which is just mathematics.

asie.pl•61 days ago

As for rules, the Xio ruling AFAIK amounts to "the sum total of a game's mechanics can be considered copyrightable, even if individual elements are not". Dr. Mario was an example of a game which clearly derived from Tetris' ruleset but was also obviously legally distinct. (Not legal advice!)

asie.pl•61 days ago

(Lesser known, they also have a kind of sound trademark on "Korobeiniki" when used in video games, despite the song itself being out of copyright!)

shino1.bsky.social•60 days ago

American company being able to secure trademark on a traditional Russian folk song is so late capitalism

shino1.bsky.social•62 days ago

I know at least in case of comics, trademark does not apply to *contents* of the product (e.g. that's why for years, DC had their own Captain Marvel though Marvel had a trademark on that - they just couldn't put that on the cover).

The lawsuit was about something else entirely.

shino1.bsky.social•62 days ago

So like, this best the question - how does that work with store page screenshots? Like, do they count as part of your games branding and liable for trademark law?

IANAL so I have no idea.

johnxuandou.bsky.social•62 days ago

IIRC, they can't trademark the shapes, but they have trademarked the shapes being the specific colors they are (the square being yellow, the T being purple, etc.), the letter names of the blocks (J and L blocks, S and Z blocks, etc) and the exact dimensions of the well, for use in video games.

johnxuandou.bsky.social•62 days ago

If you use different colored blocks and don't use the same well and don't refer to them by their letter names, they can't do anything about it. For instance, the game Tricky Towers can exist just fine, but the closer you get the more they will fight you.

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eniko.bsky.social•63 days ago

anyway the tetris company (sorry its company not foundation) sucks ass https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tetris_Company

st1ka.bsky.social•63 days ago

Damn I had no idea

black-knight767.bsky.social•63 days ago

Another victim of the privatization of the Soviet Union

maxnichols.bsky.social•63 days ago

Yeahhh one of those companies whose only function is to squat on IP

kaofelix.dev•63 days ago

What? This is absurd… even Emacs has had M-x tetris for years, I hope they leave it alone

doodlemancy.com•63 days ago

man jeez i didn't know they were like this. loser shit. literally stifling a genre 🫠

omio9999.bsky.social•63 days ago

TTC is being a terrible company because they want to have their "brand" still exist.

The matter's funny for all the worst reasons.

francis.codes•63 days ago

what the actual fuck

minirop.com•63 days ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tetris_Company
"legal enforcement" is longer than "history"

rainygf.bsky.social•62 days ago

gotta trademark more mathematical objects and sets until everyone is forced to stop doing math or pay my fees

lordpyromon.bsky.social•63 days ago

I feel like Tetris is one of those things that is so simple it’s basically public domain, it occupies the same space in my mind as something like Pong or Breakout.

eniko.bsky.social•63 days ago

well, thanks to the tetris company its like the opposite of that!

gabemoralesvr.bsky.social•63 days ago

The idea that someone can own 4 squares in basically every permutation available is fucking ridiculous. And trademarks don't expire. BE COPYLEFT!!