Tetris Apocalypse

Looks like the recent roaring success of Android has drawn attention to some of the slightly shadier practices of a few developers, with a DMCA copyright claim filed with Google today wiping an astonishing 35 Tetris clones from the Android Market.

The complaint has been explained, in part, by the developer who’s responsible for one such homage to the ancient puzzle game, over on Slashdot:

“I am one of the developers of FallingBlocks, a game with the same gameplay concepts as Tetris.

“This night, I have received an email warning that my game was suspended from Android Market due to a violation of the Developer Content Policy. When I received the email, I already imagined that it had something to do with it being a Tetris clone, but besides having the same gameplay as Tetris, which i believe cannot be copyrighted, the game uses its own name, graphics and sounds. There’s no reference to “Tetris” in our game.

“I have emailed Google asking what is the reason for the application removal. Google promptly answered that The Tetris Company, LLC notified them under DMCA to remove various Tetris clones from Android Market. My app was removed together with other 35 Tetris clones”

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By | 2010-05-27T15:27:15+00:00 May 27th, 2010|Android Related|0 Comments

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