Tris, a free Tetris clone for the Apple iPhone available via the App Store, is being pulled, but not until tomorrow.
The Tetris Company, which owns and licenses the Tetris trademark to game developers, contacted Apple to complain about the game, which isn’t an officially licensed version. On his blog, Tris creator Noah Witherspoon said that in spite of his belief that The Tetris Company doesn’t actually have much of a case against him, he can’t afford to do anything about it.
“I’ve received notice from Apple that they’ve been contacted by The Tetris Company about Tris. That, I’m afraid, is essentially game over. Do they have a case? No. Not really. I am convinced that if it went to court, the ‘copyright’ claim would get thrown out completely,” Witherspoon wrote. “The trademark, perhaps not – but if I changed the name, to e.g Trys, that would be much harder for them to argue.”
“The trouble is, I’m a college student, and not an affluent one, and I simply do not have the time, energy or resources to fight this battle right now,” he continued. “There’s a point at which I am willing to give up and be practical, to let the world have its way with that ever-mistreated little ideal of ‘principle.’ Thus, it’s with great sadness that I must announce that I’ll be pulling Tris from the App Store on Wednesday, August 27th, to remain in Apple’s systems but publicly unavailable until I work out a solution to this.”
The game’s removal may not be permanent; Witherspoon says he’s only agreed to take it down because Apple told him it would “take action” if he failed to resolve the matter himself. “When I have the time and can find a good copyright lawyer, I’ll be figuring out exactly what my position is and how I can make Tris available again,” he said.
In the meantime, Tris, the free Tetris clone for the iPhone, is slated to be taken down on Wednesday August 27. Since today is Tuesday August 26, it is suggested that owners of the Apple iPhone who are still reading this while desperately trying to put two and two together should just go to the Apple App Store and grab the damn thing while you still can.
