What happened to the Game that Copied Tetris?

In 2009, a small iPhone game called Mino found itself in the crosshairs of one of the most recognizable games in the world. Mino was a falling-block puzzle game that was heavily inspired by Tetris, but its developers, Xio Interactive, believed they could legally copy the parts of Tetris they considered to be unprotected. They even downloaded Tetris' iPhone game and used it while developing Mino. The game was released in May 2009, and Tetris Holding soon noticed how similar the two games were. Xio knew it was making something very similar to Tetris, but the company believed that the game's rules and functional elements couldn't be copyrighted. So while developing Mino, it tried to avoid copying anything it believed was legally protected. The problem was that Tetris Holding argued Mino wasn't merely copying the basic idea of dropping blocks and clearing lines. It was copying the specific way Tetris looked and presented that gameplay, including its seven block shapes, bright colors, tall playing field, block borders, falling and rotating animations, and the preview showing the next piece. In August 2009, Tetris Holding sent takedown notices to Apple, which removed Mino and its free version, Mino Lite, from the App Store. Xio responded with counter-notices, and Apple said the games would be restored unless Tetris Holding actually sued. Tetris Holding did exactly that, filing a lawsuit against Xio in December 2009. The case eventually reached the point where both sides asked the court to rule in their favor without a trial. In May 20 12, the court ruled against Xio. The judge found that although the basic rules and functions of Tetris weren't protected by copyright, the specific artistic choices used to express those rules could be. The court concluded that Mino had copied enough of Tetris' protected visual elements to be substantially similar, including its shapes, colors, playing field and overall presentation. Tetris Holding therefore won summary judgment on its copyright claim. #gaming #lawsuit #tetris