Tetris blocks Mac Quinn game

Posted on 11 Jul 2006 at 10:56, by Simon Aughton

The Mac multiplayer Tetris-style game Quinn has been withdrawn after the developers received a cease and desist notice from lawyers for The Tetris Company.

'This is not the first time The Tetris Company has attacked the little guy and it probably won't be the last. In order to defend Quinn, a lot of time and money would have to be spent and The Tetris Company knows when they send these letters out that the people they are attacking probably cannot afford these expenses,' developer Simon Haertel said in a statement on his website.

'I do not know of any clear legal precedent on this matter and The Tetris Company has never actually taken anyone to court over the issue while numerous Tetris-like games continue to be distributed today,' he added.

Whether The Tetris Company owns the rights to the phenomenonally popular game is much disputed, as Wikipedia's brief history tries to explain.

'According to circulars available from the United States Library of Congress, a game cannot be copyrighted (only patented), which would invalidate much of TTC's copyright claim on the game,'it notes.

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