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From: papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Tetris variants
Message-ID: <25282@usc.edu>
Date: 14 Jun 90 02:45:08 GMT
References: <1990Jun12.195107.5899@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <25270@usc.edu> <1990Jun13.214238.15312@dg-rtp.dg.com>
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In article <1990Jun13.214238.15312@dg-rtp.dg.com> poirier@dg-rtp.dg.com (  Poirier local) writes:
>In article <25270@usc.edu> papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) writes:
>>In article <1990Jun12.195107.5899@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) writes:
>>>
>>>The legally defendable item is not the game code; the valuable intellectual
>>>property is the game design.
>>
>>Sorry Kent, but you're wrong on this one.  BOTH the game code and the game
>>design can be protected: the first by copyright, the second one by patent.
>>So far, ELROG, the Russian author and Nintendo have used only copyrights
>>for protection (though I would assume a patent is being sought).
>
>That assumption doesn't seem to be addressed one way or the other by the
>available evidence.  Let me quote the relevant portion of Fred's posting
>of Spectrum Holobyte's letter:

You must understand that Spectrum Holobyte is a VERY SMALL FISH in the now
gigantic struggle for the Tetris money.  There are already two lawsuits
involving Nintendo and a company owned by ATARI (yea, they're everywhere:-)
over the rights for Tetris.  SH is just one of the now many licensees of
Tetris.  Everybody knows that there are big bucks to be made on Tetris, mostly
because it is such an addictive game.  But one thing is clear, companies today
have no restraint to starting a lawsuit, if they have the minimal thought
that some of their rights might have been infringed.  As it was mentioned
before, a god account of the Tetris affair was published in last Friday
Wall Street Journal. You can find it at your local public library.

When somebody asked me what I thought of the letter that the SH representative
sent to Fred, I could only say that it was real "bogus" :-)  The guy seemed
to have little idea of the legal meaning of what he was talking about.  And 
that is unfortunate.

-- Marco
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