Apple Dumps Another Game For Being 'Too Similar' To Tetris

from the but-not-illegally-so dept

You can almost understand the reasoning behind Apple pushing the creator of a Tetris-like game called "Tris" to remove his app from the App Store. There's a decent chance that the game doesn't violate The Tetris Company's IP, but the "Tris" name could conceivably run afoul of the trademark. However, it's difficult to understand the reasoning behind Apple taking down another game for being "too similar" to Tetris. The game, called Shaker, has some similarities to Tetris, but is quite clearly a different game -- and with a name like Shaker isn't going to run into any issues on the trademark front (thanks to reader J. Locke for pointing us to the story). It's unlikely that The Tetris Company has any actual legal claim here, so it's rather ridiculous that Apple is using its dictatorial authority to just remove it. Does that mean that anyone who creates a similar app to someone else's App Store app can ask Apple to remove all competitors?

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Another Game Innovator Is Shut Down By Copyright Claims

from the can-I-get-an-encore? dept

Over the past couple months we have covered the tale of Scrabulous, the popular Facebook application which brought the traditional game of Scrabble to the online environment. After more than nine months of threats, Hasbro, the owner of Scrabble, finally created their own version of the game and, more importantly, sued the makers of Scrabulous.

Now, an eerily similar situation is taking place through the iPhone App Store. The maker of a Tetris-like game called "Tris" reports that due to legal action by the Tetris Company, he is going to remove the application from the App Store. Apple, he says, demanded he resolve the dispute personally or they would "take action." Although the developer believes he is on fairly firm legal ground, as a poor college student, he cannot afford the time or money to defend his application. He calls the approach "little more than petty bullying."

This scenario and Scrabulous are indicators of the increasing importance of the platform operators who have the ability to shut down applications (and in the case of Apple, even disable previously installed applications). The developers who are building on these platforms are beholden to gatekeepers which, more often than not, err on the side of over-enforcement.

Kevin Donovan is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Kevin Donovan and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.

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