Made Pong? Get a lawyer!
Miscellaneous Forums/General Discussion/Made Pong? Get a lawyer!
Many of you, I'm sure, will have played Plasma Pong, a remake with whizzy graphics going on in the background. Well now they've ( apparently ) been asked to take it down by Atari. So check your website and remove those bat and ball games, lest you get a cease and desist order.
http://www.plasmapong.com/Now, if you don't mind, I'm off to bang my head against a wall. < Thump..Thump.. Ooh, blood! >
Ahhh, but if you rename it "Plasma PingPong" or "Plasma Table Tennis" then its OK
That was my initial impression too, but if there were nothing more to it than that, I can't imagine the PlasmaPong guys would have taken the game down. They could have just renamed it and relaunched it, as you say.
Thinking about it, I would imagine that because it was originaly called "Pong" then it would be quite difficult to argue that it wasnt based on "Pong".
You would have to argue that you had never seen or heard of the game pong and that nameing was coinsedental. On the other had, if it was called Plasma TableTennis from the begining they would have to prove that it was based on Pong, changing the onus of proff
Plus I bet their web page said it was a tribute to Pong, or some such
I reckon the problem is with using the name 'Pong', and nothing more. Back it the late 70's, early 80's, there were 'Pong' home console games available by any number of manufacturers.
I mean, how the hell can you copyright a game based on a sport? Atari didn't invent the game of table tennis.
Well, actually, when was the last time you played a Pong game and thought of it as table tennis?
It IS table tennis - it wasn't called Pong (from ping-pong) by coincidence. It's just that the GFX of the time weren't up to representing it very well. :)
How is Pong not public domain by now ... and even still ... WTF! As if Steve Taylor's game is hidering sales of Pong!!! Maybe they're going to buy it and make a commercial game of it.
Atari have a longstanding reputation for 'odd' rights claims, it seems.
I think this whole thing stinks <---- see what I did there, pong, smell... do you get it! :/
Sorry :)
Dabz
That would be a good name for it - Plasma Stink! :P
How is Pong not public domain by now
because "Pong" is a registered trademark and trademarks do NOT expire if kept protected.
Anybody can write a pong game and be fine as long as it doesn't look exactly like the original which could possibly be still under copyright. as long as a "14 year old boy can discern the difference" you should be fine.
You cannot copyright game ideas, at least not here in Europe :)
How many Tetris clones are there?
That was my initial impression too, but if there were nothing more to it than that, I can't imagine the PlasmaPong guys would have taken the game down.
Yes. Pong is trademarked by Atari (although whether it's still valid is disputable, since it's been a while since Atari has traded in pong games).
I find it terribly ironic as the original Pong game is a blatant rip-off of the Magnavox Odyssey Table Tennis game (so blatant that Atari lost a patent infringement lawsuit).
because Pong is a registered trademark and trademarks do NOT expire if kept protected.
Yes. But in order to keep it protected, you need to keep selling it. Anyone bought Pong lately?
Theoretically "Plas Mapong" wouldn't infringe Ataris trademark.
How many Tetris clones are there?
Even Tetris was based on an existing puzzle game. The autor admitted as much. :)
Hmmm the funny thing is that the latest Atari/Hasbro PONG (great game by the way) isn't even more working anymore under XP/Vista...
How many Tetris clones are there?
There's a thread here somewhere ( I think it's here, perhaps it was Blitzcoder ) where someone quoted an email where ShareIt were refusing to take Tetris Clones because they'd been threatened with legal action.
Who owns Tetris, now?
HAsnt someone here just made a "Combat" clone?
Yes. But in order to keep it protected, you need to keep selling it. Anyone bought Pong lately?
they do, check their website.
find it terribly ironic as the original Pong game is a blatant rip-off of the Magnavox Odyssey Table Tennis game
which is why they payed and then licensed it after the suit.
You cannot copyright game ideas,
you can't here either but "look and feel" is copyrightable... that's where the "14 year old boy can discern the difference" comes from... that was a US judges assesment on look and feel which set an important precedent.
:P
that's where the "14 year old boy can discern the difference" comes from.
If that's the legal litmus test these days, they'll have to legalize pretty much every crime, as the main thing 14 year olds around where I live can't tell the difference between is right and wrong :P
Oh, they can tell. They just dont care. :/
I reckon the problem is with using the name 'Pong', and nothing more.
I agree. You're asking for trouble having Pong in the title, however ridiculous Atari are being.
omg now i got the kill my game on all the 100 download sites i posted it on. ahhh
Now if you don't mind i'll bump my head against Garbiel's <Thump.. Thump... 2x as much blood!>
