Tetris Clone Removed After Legal Threat
The White House took down Build the Wall, a Tetris clone, four days after The Tetris Company responded with a legal threat, highlighting the game's complex and disputed history
The Trump administration's release of a game called Build the Wall, a clone of the iconic video game Tetris, was short-lived. The White House took down the game without explanation just four days after The Tetris Company, which owns the rights to Tetris, responded with a legal threat.
The Tetris Company's claim to exclusive rights to Tetris pieces has been disputed, with some arguing that the company's assertion of ownership is flawed. A federal judge ruled in 2012 that geometric forms made of four equal-sized squares, each joined together with at least one other square along an edge, were copyrighted and belonged to Alexei Pajitnov and Henk Rogers, the founders of The Tetris Company.
However, this ruling has been questioned, as the tetrominoes, the puzzle pieces used in Tetris, were first described by mathematician Solomon Golomb in 1953 during a talk at the Harvard Mathematics Club. Golomb's work on tetrominoes was later popularized in Scientific American, highlighting that the concept of tetrominoes is not unique to Tetris.
The game's history is marked by a complex and intriguing past, including its popularity during the Cold War era. First Lady Hillary Clinton was known to be a fan of the game, playing Tetris on her Game Boy in 1993, as confirmed by her Staff Secretary, Robert Russo.
## Why it matters The dispute over The Tetris Company's claim to exclusive rights to Tetris pieces has significant implications for the gaming industry. If the company's claim is upheld, it could limit the development of new games that use similar puzzle pieces. On the other hand, if the claim is disputed, it could open up new opportunities for game developers to create their own versions of Tetris-like games.
The removal of Build the Wall from the White House website highlights the ongoing debate over the ownership and copyright of Tetris. As the gaming industry continues to evolve, the question of who owns the rights to Tetris and its iconic puzzle pieces remains a contentious issue.
