Apple has defeated a lawsuit that alleged the “Tetris” documentary on Apple TV+ ripped off a book written by tech journalist Dan Ackerman. As detailed by Reuters, U.S. District Judge Katherine Failla determined that the “book and the movie were not similar enough to support Ackerman’s allegations.”
Ackerman, the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo and current editor-in-chief of MicroCenter, filed the lawsuit in 2023. The lawsuit alleged that the documentary “Tetris” was “substantially similar in almost all material respects” to his book published in 2016 entitled “The Tetris Effect.” The suit was filed against Apple, screenwriter Noah Pink, Marv Studios, the Tetris Company, and others.
We explained the situation at the time:
Ackerman says that he sent a pre-release copy of “The Tetris Effect” to the Tetris Company in July 2016. Tetris Company CEO Maya Rogers, however, allegedly instructed the company not to “license any of the Tetris intellectual property, such as its name and image, for any motion picture or television project.”
The lawsuit goes further to say that the Tetris Company sent a cease and desist letter to Ackerman’s agent, threatening legal action if Ackerman “continued to pursue” any licensing options, such as TV shows and movies, for his book.
Instead, the lawsuit says the Tetris Company subsequently started work on its own film project related to the company’s history, allegedly using Ackerman’s work as the basis for the screenplay.
In March of 2023, when the “Tetris” trailer debuted, Ackerman “immediately recognized the substantial similarity” to his book. A cease and desist letter was then sent, demanding that “the movie not be broadcast until certain legal issues were addressed.” The lawsuit says that Apple was aware of a cease and desist but proceeded with releasing the movie on Apple TV+ a week later.
Judge Failla, however, determined that because Ackerman’s book is a work of non-fiction, the defendants “were entitled to use” the facts in the book for the making of the “Tetris” documentary “so long as they did not copy his unique expression of those facts.”
The full decision from Judge Failla can be found here.
The “Tetris” movie on Apple TV+ has been well-received since its release in 2023, garnering an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Head to Apple TV+ to watch.
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