Tetris: The Soviet Game That Became a Copyright Battleground
The Murky History of Soviet-Born Tetris
Tetris was created in a KGB-controlled lab and spread as samizdat, yet its rights were seized by a Soviet bureaucrat and later used to claim ownership of basic geometric shapes. The article traces how the game's tangled licensing history, erased collaborators, and offshore millions turned a symbol of socialism into a tool for aggressive copyright enforcement.
The game rapidly made its way through the Eastern bloc before reaching Hungary, where British software entrepreneur Robert Stein recognized its commercial potential.