Thanks for the good info, bit_Jon! I think the difference here may be that the look and feel of my game creates a unique experience, outside the basic tangram play, which is easily identifiable by a lot of people. In your case, you say the basics are like Tetris, which warrants using Tetris-like shapes. EA doesn't own those shapes, so you are free to use them, just as I don't own tangram shapes, and any game is free to use them. What I'm talking about is trademark infringement, specifically in the area of trade dress. Let's say you made a tetris game, but created it with a spaghetti interface and theme, complete with falling meatballs. It then becomes wildly more successful than regular Tetris, as the uniqueness of your game becomes one of its key selling points. The interface has nothing to do with Tetris at all, but it is what sets it apart from other Tetris games. Your company is known as the maker of Spaghetti Tetris. There is a certain amount of intellectual property there. So if EA suddenly decided to release Tetris: Spaghetti, to capitalize on the Spaghetti Tetris craze, you may have a case against them.
Thanks Danny. I've got inquires out to two different lawyers now, the second of which specializes in trademark/copyright issues with computer software. Hopefully I'll get a response, and some direction, in the next day or so.
A couple of corrections Trade names are protected under Trademark law, not copyright. That fact that you made the graphics does NOT provide protection IF you copied them from Tetris. It is OK to look at Tetris and copy the idea (falling shapes) provided that you create your own shapes that are different from Tetris. If you look at Tetris and copy the shapes (but draw them yourself) that isn't OK because copying is what Copyright law is there to stop. - remember - copy doesn't just mean photocopy or screen grab or other direct copies... it also means looking at something and then drawing it. There is also the issue of "trade dress" mentioned above. This is where a product used the style of an existing product to such a degree that customers are fooled into thinking they are connected. Some years ago a Uk supermarket created their own biscuits called Puffin. Vitually the same size/shape as a Penguin biscuit, wrapped in a similar foal wrapper - Penguin sued them and won. To the OP. - Unfortunately taking legal action in IP related cases is very expensive (think $100,000 to start with). The arguments are complex and you require a decent Ip lawyer and they are very expensive. This means that sending them an email is probably the only realistic course of action you have. Sadly the law is only fair for those who can afford to pay
That's a pretty hefty cost. Seeing as how we're both probably one person operations, I would hope they would see the light, and make requested changes to their game voluntarily, once they got caught. But we shall see.
Thank you for the info, like I said we didn't have enough money to higher a lawyer so we had to investigate on our own, I guess we got copyright and trademark mixed up . Our Blocks only resemble Tetris Blocks in their shape other than that they don't look anything like them. We never would have used Tetris shapes exactly because, your right, that would be copyright infringement. I was only making that point because while the Two games in question do look very very similar (and LWBS may have a case against them) they aren't exact.
I'm by no means a legal expert, but it seems to me that this is more of a patent issue, and unless you have a patent you might not get very far if your competitor ignores your request. Sending a friendly email is definitely worth a try though...
Patents are more for inventions, I believe. Trademark covers branding as well as packaging, and I believe, in this case, overall design. Yes, they will be getting something, no doubt. But not until I talk to a lawyer.
Ok first off, I agree, you've been copied, and their PC game needs to be changed. But isn't this game copying trism layout and pieces as well? The board are the same size, colors, triangles (yes this is a shape and not protected, obviously) but I mean come on.... And there were people defending this was perfectly fine of this game to do this because gameplay was different? In this Tanzen case, does LWBS have a better chance because the game play is the same pretty much too? Since the layout was copied in both of these games.
Yes, your example is clearly a swipe as well. I would've written a letter. It's interesting. I've posted this on several dev forums, gathering opinions, and there's a split between people who think they're nothing alike, and people who think it's a clear swipe. I'd say the results lean towards clear swipe, but the opinions are interesting regardless.
I don't know that you have a LEGAL issue, but I'd share your frustration. Your triangles-in-the-corner layout is something I noticed about your game from the start--a small detail, but I thought it was clever and new. Regardless of what details may be copied, I hope your app sees continued success!
Thank you! Some will say the layout is obvious, but if it were so obvious, someone would've done it already. It was a design made to solve the screen size limitation of the iPhone. All good designs are obvious, after the fact.
True. It IS possible that multiple people would come up with the same solution (and we may never know) but the stylistic similarities add to the suspicion. And even if it were purely accidental duplication, I'd still be frustrated by it.
Whether or not they're stealing from you in my opinion really is in the eye of the beholder. There's really only so many ways you can layout a tangram game, and it's hard to say what is and isn't stealing especially since the game itself has existed since the 1800's. When I was a kid I had a tangram puzzle set that came with a box that stored the tans in a square. Half a square (obviously) is a triangle, and it makes sense to organizes the tans in the corner for the most central screen real estate. I understand the logic behind the design decision, and I could see other people coming up with it. I guess it comes down to how much time, energy, and most importantly money you want to invest in to pursuing this. The App Store is loaded with clones of other games, and most of these development "companies" really have no assets to speak of, so they have nothing to lose. You could send them cease and desist letters yourself, pay a lawyer to due it, file a lawsuit, etc... And assuming you win, would you really get anything out of it? I think you're much better off just ignoring these idiots and focus on making your game better than theirs. I can't even imagine the legal hurdles required in trying to prove that you own the original concept of arranging the pieces of a 200 year old puzzle game in to two triangles on sand.
You're right, anyone can come up with that piece placement. But nobody did, because it wasn't needed on larger screens. There are currently six other tangram games on the iPhone, and none of them place their pieces the way TanZen does. In fact, I think they all use entirely different interfaces from each other. From my research, no computer based tangram game uses my layout either. The first person to come up with a duplicate layout just happened to also use green pieces, a sand background, and coincidentally has been in direct competition with me for about five months now. It's not the piece placement by itself that's the issue. It's the fact that they did a 180 from their own design, and duplicated mine because it's more popular. It's close enough to the TanZen look, feel, and general experience to look like it came from me. And you're absolutely correct, going after their little PC game may not be worth it, as I'm not losing sales. However, if they were to skin their iPhone game in the same way, they are taking advantage of my vastly more popular interface, and I would lose sales.
Yes, entirely possible. Although in this case, highly unlikely. Just got done talking to the first of two intellectual property lawyers I contacted. I can't go into details, but I will say that evidentally I am not overreacting to this. ....
When things are over, will you be able to let us know the outcome? This is a very interesting topic. Xyzl
No idea. But as it involves games available to the public, even if I couldn't talk about it, you'd likely see the result.
LineUp Challenge looks like your game. http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=312348594&mt=8 Mighty Charms http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=308760914&mt=8
