The pieces are not falling into place for Tetris when it comes to President Donald Trump’s agenda and the White House’s newly unveiled game.
“The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of ‘Build the Wall,’” the company said Friday, according to Newsweek. “We take copyright infringement very seriously.”
The White House a day earlier launched a slate of five retro-style games on the administration’s new arcade.gov website. In “Build the Wall,” players are challenged with stacking blocks into a border barrier — an obvious reference to Trump’s mass-deportation campaign and signature immigration policy.
The Tetris Company also appeared to reject the game’s political message.
“At Tetris we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them,” it said in an Instagram post. “To our fans everywhere: we love you, we see you, and we’re grateful to have you in our community.”
The company refused to discuss whether it plans to take legal action against the Trump White House, Newsweek reported. But intellectual property expert Christopher Buccafusco said the administration may have gone beyond just paying tribute to classic games.
“Some of these games tread pretty closely to the intellectual property rights of famous video game companies,” the Duke University law professor told the publication. “While some of them simply call to mind existing games, other aspects of the White House’s productions are no doubt meant to track the features of famous trademarks like the Sega logo and jingle.”
He added that the White House would likely lose the argument that the games are simply parody or an homage.
“The only conceivable reason the White House used these trademarks is to get attention,” he concluded. “That behavior is almost never allowed by trademark law.”
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