Tetris trademark

[kevincentius]

I figured out that creating Tetris clones are legal even for commercial uses as long as we don't use the name 'Tetris'

This brings some question to me, so then TOJ, TGM, and perhaps other famous clones that uses 'Tetris' in the game title, are they from the TTC or they got some cooperation? Doesn't seem so for me, and I just want to find out.

[Paul676]

TOJ is from TTC
TGM is from (I believe) TTC got their rights, but also got some sort of special allowance

[keyn]

Yes, I'm pretty sure Paul is right.  TOJ and TGM have been granted permission from the Tetris company.

[Kitaru]

[Paradox]

Why did original blockles have to go down then? I don't really get it. Did they just not want to have to deal with it?

[XaeL]

Why did original blockles have to go down then? I don't really get it. Did they just not want to have to deal with it?

Seriously, do you have to troll so hard?

real answer: If you made your own clone, and TTC sued you, and the legal fees are $10 million, and you would win, but you dont want to spend $10 million, what would you do.

[Paul676]

if you win, aren't one of the most common thing that the loser pays your legal fees?

[XaeL]

if you win, aren't one of the most common thing that the loser pays your legal fees?

and if you dont have $10 million lying around?

[Paul676]

doesn't everyone?

[Noogy]

doesn't everyone?

maybe we could get some decent tournaments going then  

[caffeine]

Paradox, you didn't read the news article? They claimed that blockles infringed on their "trade dress" and won.

Kevincentius, TTC sells a license to use their trademark to different companies. These companies must then follow the Tetris Guideline. You can find a list of licensed games in the wiki.

Traditionally, if someone makes an unlicensed fan game that either uses the trademark or sounds like it (derp-tris or tetri-derp), then TTC will send you a cease and desist letter. They have to do this so that their trademark does not become "genericized," where unless the owner defends their intellectual preoperty rights, they may lose them to competitors. For example, "yo-yo" was originally Duncan's trademark, but they lost the trademark in the 60s because the courts ruled that the term had become generic. If TTC hadn't rigidly protected their IP all these years, the same might've happened to them.

More interesting is that recently they've been buying out fangames when they could've just shut them down legally. Apparently this is done to look less evil. They did this when they first launched their Facebook app and also did it with that one clone that was near the top of Google's search results.

[zaphod77]

Things are a wee bit more complicated than that.

1) TOJ, hangame, and TGM are all properly licensed now.  hangame didn't used to be licensed, but TTC bought them up.

2) Blockles got sued because they were a stunning example of bad faith and they knew it. really, they brought it on themselves.  They cloned the old hangame and tried to change JUST enough to not be sued and slung the tetris trademark around like it was a frisbee.  They were asking for it.

3) TTC only buys up popular games that make them look good by comparison.  If a clone gets high enough quality and popular, you better believe a cease and desist will follow FAST.

What did they buy up? i count two. n-blox and blockstar. blockstar is horrible, and n-blox only slightly less so.

[Kitaru]

Paradox, you didn't read the news article? They claimed that blockles infringed on their "trade dress" and won.

They didn't win -- the two parties settled out of court.

What did they buy up? i count two. n-blox and blockstar. blockstar is horrible, and n-blox only slightly less so.

Hangame?

[perfectclear]

whats the story with blockbox?

[Kitaru]

Deniax was sent a C&D and it didn't go much further than that. I think all they really did was take down the splash page at http://blockboxgame.com that had a quote that said "Tetris? No, I think this is better."