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From: xrtnt@bethe.gsfc.nasa.gov (Nigel Tzeng)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Disk recall notice
Message-ID: <2286@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Date: 7 Jun 90 21:21:59 GMT
References: <21411@snow-white.udel.EDU>
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In article <21411@snow-white.udel.EDU>, kosma%human-torch@stc.lockheed.com (Monty Kosma) writes...
^I would like to prefix this by saying that I really like Spectrum Holobyte
^basically because of Falcon, and I won't hesitate to buy another of their
^products.  
^ 
^but...
^ 
^	   Let me get this straight.
^ 
^	   The Russian inventor of Tetris invents the game.
^ 
^there's been some debate of this...though I don't really know who to believe
^ 
^	   He markets the game internationally.
^ 
^	   He licenses the game to Spectrum Holobyte, who is responsible for
^   distributing and protecting HIS rights.
^ 
^	   Clones appear, ripping off the Tetris name.  This hurts not only
^   Spectrum Holobyte as AMerican distributor but the original, Russian author.
^ 
^some of the clones (like, Tetris and Tetrix) clearly were ripping off the
^Tetris name.  But take, for example, the game "Obsess"--to me, its gameplay
^was sufficiently expanded and different from the original tetris, and
^clearly its name was quite different...it seems that Spectrum Holobyte's
^forcing this particular tetris "look-similar" (?) off the pd market was
^a bit on the bullying side.  
^ 
^	   Spectrum Holobyte moves to protect its rights as distributor and
^   the rights of the Russian author.
^ 
^	   And YOU TELL ME THAT THIS IS BAD????
^ 
^	   Well, now I guess I should be mad and annoyed at people
^   defending their rights.......
^ 
^no, but to some people, SH has gone a bit too far with some of their claims...

Actually it seems that SH has been fairly polite about the whole thing.  I do
agree that some of the games like Obsess (or the other one with the real long
name...) don't infringe as much on their game.  But Tertris (the PD one) stated
in its docs that it was attempting to emulate the arcade game as closely as
possible and it wasn't going to pussyfoot around with changing the name.  It
seemed that this programmer caught someone's attention and the rest suffered
from the subsequent fallout.

Actually of the versions available it is the least favorite of mine since it
wants a joystick and not a mouse.

I own both falcon and op counterstrike but I'm not going to delete my copy of
Tetrix just because SH says so.  When they re-vamp Tetris to be friendlier I'll
reconsider.

NT

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   // | Nigel Tzeng - STX Inc - NASA/GSFC COBE Project
 \X/  | xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov
      | 
Amiga | Standard Disclaimer Applies:  The opinions expressed are my own.