Apple and The Tetris Company are facing a lawsuit filed by author Dan Ackerman, who accuses them of adapting his 2016 book The Tetris Effect: The Game That Hypnotized the World into a film without his permission. The lawsuit, which identifies 22 “similarities” between the book and the movie Tetris which released earlier this year, requests damages of six percent of the film’s $80 million production budget, equal to $4.8 million.
Business Insider reports that author Dan Ackerman has launched a lawsuit against Apple and The Tetris Company, accusing them of turning his 2016 book The Tetris Effect: The Game That Hypnotized the World into a film without his authorization. The complaint seeks $4.8 million in damages, or 6 percent of the film’s $80 million production costs.
Tim Cook at Golden Globes (Frazer Harrison /Getty)
According to the lawsuit, Ackerman’s book, which explores the cultural impact of the iconic video game, was used as the basis for the film Tetris. The author claims that the film utilizes “the same characters, plot, and underlying themes as his 2016 book.”
The lawsuit details 22 similarities between the book and the film, including a “narrative invention” where Tetris distributor Henk Rogers’ guide “turned out to be a KGB agent.” Other similarities include a conversation in the film that is said to be “lifted from Ackerman’s interview with the game’s creator, Alexey Pajitnov,” and a scene showing the deal where “Tetris was paired with Game Boy was ‘paraphrased’ from Ackerman’s retelling.”
The legal action also reveals that Ackerman’s representatives sent his book to The Tetris Company’s PR firm, which was then allegedly given to Tetris CEO Maya Rogers and used to create the film’s screenplay. In a further twist, the lawsuit mentions that Tetris sent Ackerman’s agent “a strongly worded Cease and Desist letter” threatening legal action while refusing to license the video game’s intellectual property.
The lawsuit emphasizes a similar focus in both the book and the film on “Cold War intrigue and placing an outsized role on the Russian government organization ELORG.”
As of now, Apple and The Tetris Company have not responded to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
Read more at Business Insider here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan