> Similarly, Mino also displays “garbage” lines, “ghost” pieces, and a preview of the next piece to fall in order to enhance game play as does Tetris…. I am not persuaded that these features constitute either the ideas or rules of Tetris or are necessitated by game play.
Interesting that intuitive controls are typically not copyrightable, yet it sounds like intuitive UI elements are.
Also, it seems the rules for what is copyrightable are very different from what is patentable (see: slide to unlock). If Capcom had patented "method of simulating fighting moves with an 8-way joystick", like it or not, I'm guessing things would have gone very differently.
> The court also filtered out unprotectable game mechanics. Using a six-by-six game grid is not an expressive choice. “A grid that is too small would make the game trivial; a grid that is too large would make it pointless.”
I find this an interesting contrast with the fact that Tetris' tetrominoes are considered expression. As the blog points out, the game would be far too easy with triominoes but far too difficult with pentominoes. I don't know that much about copyright law, but I wonder if that part of the Tetris decision just boils down to the opinion of that particular judge?
Interesting that intuitive controls are typically not copyrightable, yet it sounds like intuitive UI elements are.
Also, it seems the rules for what is copyrightable are very different from what is patentable (see: slide to unlock). If Capcom had patented "method of simulating fighting moves with an 8-way joystick", like it or not, I'm guessing things would have gone very differently.
> The court also filtered out unprotectable game mechanics. Using a six-by-six game grid is not an expressive choice. “A grid that is too small would make the game trivial; a grid that is too large would make it pointless.”
I find this an interesting contrast with the fact that Tetris' tetrominoes are considered expression. As the blog points out, the game would be far too easy with triominoes but far too difficult with pentominoes. I don't know that much about copyright law, but I wonder if that part of the Tetris decision just boils down to the opinion of that particular judge?