On Saturday April 4th, I received a message from google saying that my game "Robotic Space Rock" was pulled from the android market after a request made by a legal firm representing an entity known as Tetris Company. My application was removed from the android market together with Blocks, Cubik, Net Tetris, Netblocks and Tetroid (6 apps in total) under claim that it violates the DMCA and more specifically trademarks and copyrighted material owned by the Tetris Company. However, none of the trademarks or copyrighted material (music, graphics and sound effects) are present in my game. Sound effects and music were created by me specifically for the game. There is no reference to the word tetris in the game. Additionally, all the game code, graphics and sound effects were created by me and published on the code site http://code.google.com/p/monolithandroid
Additionally, I am not aware of a software patent covering the game mechanics of Tetris, so I cannot see how I could violate something that is not protected by a software patent. Also, even if the game was protected by a patent, the patent would have expired, since the original game, Tetris, was created 23 years ago. However game mechanics cannot be covered by patents. I would also like to point out that my game is available completely free of charge to every user of the android market. I wrote those concerns to Google and I sent an email to the EFF. The bottom line is that for my application to be restored on the android market, I have to send a DMCA counter-notification. And then the Tetris Company can sue and take the case to Court. When games were pulled from the iPhone App store, they blamed apple, but it is not hard to see that behind application removals we can find companies like the Tetris Company, that demand application removals claiming copyright infringement and trademarks. However, it is not easy to battle these companies as individual developers. I, for example, am a Greek citizen living in Greece, so it is difficult for me to file a counter-notification, because then the Tetris company will probably sue me and I will have to defend my case in court. Why should I bother? Am I making money out of the game? No! But even if I did you can see how easy it is for corporations to neutralize developers like that. I think that something should be done. Independent developers should get together to battle against such misuse of the law by corporations. And to those that want more facts, you can find more details on my blog: http://tkcodesharing.blogspot.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
