Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Intellectual Property Law Blogs -> Patent Arcade

Intellectual Property Law

: Patent Arcade

New Case: Tetris Co. v. BioSocia Inc. (S.D.N.Y) [Copyright]

The Tetris Co. on March 12, 2009, filed a new lawsuit against BioSocia Inc. for copyright infringement and unfair competition. The suit is based on BioSocia's game Blockles, which is a "tetris-like clone." A screenshot of Blockles from www.iminlikewithyou.com is on the left. As far as this author is aware, Tetris Co. does not have a patent on the game "Tetris," and copyright will not protect functional aspects, so copyright infringement will likely come down to whether BioSocia copied Tetris Co.'s actual expression of the game, i.e., used the same or substantially the same artwork.

According to the complaint, Blockles copied Tetris down to nearly every detail: the geometric playing pieces formed four squares; the long vertical rectangle playing field; the downward, lateral movement of the pieces; and various other effects associated with the game.

The Tetris Co. also claims that Blockles copied the user interface for its multiplayer function, which allows several players to play the game at once and displays separate games in small rectangle?s adjacent to the user?s current game.

Tetris is an immensely popular game, and The Tetris Co. appears willing to spend some dough to protect its market position. But I have to admit, my gut visceral reaction is that unless the aesthetic in Blockles is almost identical to that in Tetris, then it will be difficult to prove copyright infringement given the lack of protection by copyright for functional/useful aspects of a work.

The case is The Tetris Co. et al. v. BioSocia Inc. et al., case number 09-cv-2130, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. We will add this to our list and keep you updated.

Full post as published by Patent Arcade on March 16, 2009 (boomark / email).