It’s not a game to him.
Dan Ackerman, author of “The Tetris Effect: The Game that Hypnotized the World,” filed a lawsuit in New York on Monday claiming that tech giant Apple and The Tetris Company, producers of the new Taron Egerton film “Tetris,” adapted his book without asking permission.
According to documents obtained by The Post, Ackerman, 49, has accused Apple and The Tetris Company of copyright infringement, unfair competition, and illegally interfering with his business relations.
“Tetris” premiered at the SXSW Film Festival on March 15. It stars Taron Egerton, Nikita Efremov, Rick Yune, Ben Miles, and Roger Allam and several others.
The film tells the story of how Henk Rogers (Egerton), a Dutch-American entrepreneur, managed to secure rights to the game for the Nintendo Game Boy version, back in the 1980s — making the puzzle game one of the most well-known video games of all time.
Ackerman states that in 2016, he sent a pre-published copy of his book to The Tetris Company, which refused to license the intellectual property and allegedly dissuaded other producers who were interested in optioning the title.
The author then states that the company’s CEO Maya Rogers — and later, screenwriter Noah Pink — began copying his work in 2017 and threatened to sue him if he attempted to pursue any other films or TV spinoffs through a very “strongly worded cease and desist letter.”
The Post reached out to Apple and the Tetris Company for comment.
Kevin Landau, Ackerman’s attorney, told Reuters that the lawsuit “aims to right a wrong and provide the respect and justice to the work, diligence and ownership of someone who is entitled to such respect and acknowledgment under the law.”
“The ‘Tetris’ film is substantially similar in almost all material respects including specific chapters and pages of said book that were simply adopted from the book to the film, without Plaintiff’s knowledge, authorization or consent,” reads the lawsuit.
“After having reviewed the entire book that Mr. Ackerman wrote, Ms. Rogers then used Mr. Ackerman’s work, for which Defendant Pink developed a screenplay, the contents of which was taken from the book and deceptively made into a film project without Plaintiff’s knowledge or consent, which included the lack of any optioning or licensing rights,” the filing states.
According to Ackerman’s lawyer, he is seeking at least 6% of the film’s estimated $80 million production budget.
Per the suit, Ackerman would also receive “statutory damages up to $150,000.00 per copyright infringed,” as well as attorney’s fees and costs.
The Tetris Company told Variety “they don’t believe it has any merit but are not prepared to say anything further at this point in time.”
The films received generally positive reviews and premiered on Apple TV in late July.
“The Tetris Effect: The Game that Hypnotized the World” is available on Amazon.
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