Again, things might happen, real quick, but this is more of an issue with companies thinking they have more rights than they actually do, and courts easily granting them these rights because they are afraid of big companies. You are right that Tetris has a long history of copyright issues. That's why I said given a deferential judge, things could clearly go sour. Google's action are based on scare techniques by Tetris company.
No one is ignoring intellectual property. I think people are trying to work within bounds, but these bounds have been fuzzied quite a bit by courts and companies. I think the issue is non-technical courts, not failure to form a viable business model. On Apr 13, 2:49 pm, Sundog <sunns...@gmail.com> wrote: > Again, you both might want to review a little history... in particular > the (if memory serves, pretty successful and pretty savage) fight of > the author of Tetris to protect his intellectual property over the > last 20 years or so. And as I think someone else pointed out, your > understanding of the issues involved is not complete, as one would > think was self evident in the Google action... game ideas are most > certainly protectable. Try writing a Monopoly clone and see what > happens, real quick. Are you unaware of the recent Scrabble issue on > the iPhone? > > I don't think you see my point, which is that an operating system/ > community/environment that openly disregards intellectual property > rights is, in my humble opinion, doomed to failure from the get-go > from the inability to form a viable business model for anyone > involved. > > On Apr 13, 11:44 am, Ikon <ayanafr...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Your contention that "grown up operating systems" should not allow you > > to copy ideas is totally unfounded. You can never patent abstracty > > ideas. Game ideas cannot be patented. Whether they should be is a > > different discussion. You can go right and now, and make a game on > > Windows with a story very similar to fallout, and write all your own > > code, and use all your own graphics/sound assets and you will not be > > infringing on that IP in any way. A company may come and try to sue > > you, but that has no relevance to a maturity of an operating system. > > > On Apr 13, 10:43 am, Sundog <sunns...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > Anyone who is surprised by this must be very, very new to the > > > programming game. I've been waiting for this since the store opened. > > > > IMHO, to the extent that the Android community becomes a proxy for > > > those that think All Ideas Should Be Free And Stealable, that is the > > > extent to which Android will never be a real grown-up operating > > > system. > > > > On Apr 7, 8:43 am, "tasos.klei...@gmail.com" <tasos.klei...@gmail.com> > > > wrote: > > > > > 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 sitehttp://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-Hide quoted text - > > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. 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