Editing Tetris (section)

===Legal battles (1988–1989)===
[[File:Henk Rogers face crop.png|thumb|upright|Henk Rogers (pictured in 2010), representing Nintendo, negotiated with Elorg for the rights to ''Tetris''.]]
Following the commercial release of ''Tetris'', Spectrum HoloByte and Mirrorsoft started licensing it to other companies. In 1988, Spectrum HoloByte sold the Japanese rights to its computer games to [[Bullet-Proof Software]]'s [[Henk Rogers]], who was searching for games for the Japanese market.{{sfn|Temple|2004|loc=22 min}} Mirrorsoft sold arcade rights to the [[Atari Games]] subsidiary [[Tengen (company)|Tengen]], which sold the Japanese arcade rights to [[Sega]] and the console rights to BPS. BPS published versions for Japanese computers, including the [[MSX2]], [[PC-88]] and [[X68000]], along with a console port for the Nintendo [[Family Computer]] (Famicom).{{sfn|Loguidice|Barton|2009|page=480}} ''Tetris'' was commercially successful worldwide;{{sfn|Temple|2004|loc=22 min}} the Famicon version sold two million copies in Japan.{{sfn|Sheff|Eddy|1999|p=312}} Elorg was unaware of the deals Stein had negotiated and received no royalties.{{sfn|Temple|2004|loc=22 min}} 

Nintendo was attracted to ''Tetris'' for its simplicity and its established success on the Famicom, and considered porting it to their first handheld console, the [[Game Boy]].{{sfn|Ichibian|2009|page=92}}{{sfn|Loguidice|Barton|2009|page=480}} Rogers, who was close to the Nintendo president, [[Hiroshi Yamauchi]], sought the handheld rights.{{sfn|Ichibian|2009|page=92}} After a failed negotiation with Atari,{{sfn|Ichibian|2009|page=93}} Rogers contacted Stein in November 1988. Stein agreed to sign a contract, but explained that he had to consult Elorg before returning to negotiations with Rogers.{{sfn|Temple|2004|loc=24 min}}{{sfn|Sheff|Eddy|1999|page=313}} After contacting Stein several times, Rogers began to suspect a breach of contract on Stein's part.{{sfn|Ichibian|2009|page=93}}{{sfn|Sheff|Eddy|1999|page=313}}  

In February 1989, Rogers traveled to the Soviet Union and arrived at the Elorg offices uninvited to negotiate the rights. Discussions resulted the next day, when Stein and the Mirrorsoft manager [[Kevin Maxwell]] made an appointment with Elorg without consulting each other.{{sfn|Temple|2004|loc=29 min}} Rogers befriended Pajitnov over a game of [[Go (game)|Go]], and Pajitnov in turn supported Rogers throughout the discussions.{{sfn|Ichibian|2009|page=93}} Rogers explained that he wanted to obtain the rights to ''Tetris'' for the Game Boy.{{sfn|Ichibian|2009|page=95}} After quickly obtaining an agreement with the Elorg president, Nikolai Belikov,{{sfn|Sheff|Eddy|1999|page=316}} Rogers showed Belikov a Famicom ''Tetris'' [[Game cartridge|cartridge]].{{sfn|Ichibian|2009|page=94}} Belikov believed that the rights to ''Tetris'' had only been signed for computer systems{{sfn|Temple|2004|loc=31 min}} so the Soviets accused Rogers of illegal publication. He explained that he had obtained the rights via Atari Games, which had itself signed an agreement with Stein.{{sfn|Ichibian|2009|page=94}} 

Sympathetic to Rogers' plight, Belikov constructed a strategy to regain possession of the rights and obtain better commercial agreements. At that point, Elorg was faced with three different companies seeking to buy the rights.{{sfn|Temple|2004|loc=35 min}} Belikov proposed canceling Stein's rights and granting them instead to Nintendo for both home and handheld consoles.{{sfn|Ichibian|2009|page=94}} Rogers flew to the US to convince Nintendo's American branch to sign up for the rights. The contract with Elorg was signed by [[Minoru Arakawa]] of Nintendo for $500,000, plus 50 cents per cartridge sold.{{sfn|Ichibian|2009|page=95}}{{sfn|Temple|2004|loc=42 min}} Elorg then sent an updated contract to Stein which he signed without carefully reading it.{{sfn|Ichibian|2009|page=95}} One of the clauses defined a computer as a machine with a screen and keyboard, and thus Stein's rights to console versions were withdrawn.{{sfn|Temple|2004|loc=37 min}} Stein later realized that all the contract's other clauses, notably on payments, were a "smokescreen" to deceive him.{{sfn|Temple|2004|loc=37 min}}{{sfn|Sheff|Eddy|1999|page=319}}

In March 1989, Nintendo sent a [[cease and desist]] to Atari Games concerning their production of ''Tetris'' for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), the North American version of the Famicom.{{sfn|Temple|2004|loc=47 min}} In response, the Mirrorsoft owner, [[Robert Maxwell]], pressured the Soviet Union leader, [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], to cancel the contract between Elorg and Nintendo.{{sfn|Sheff|Eddy|1999|pp=332–334}} Despite the threats to Belikov, Elorg refused to concede, highlighting the financial advantages of their contract compared to those signed with Stein and Mirrorsoft.{{sfn|Ichibian|2009|page=95}}{{sfn|Temple|2004|loc=45 min}} On June 15, 1989, Nintendo and Atari Games began a legal battle in the courts of San Francisco. Atari Games sought to prove that the NES was a computer, which would make Atari Games's port authorized by their license. They argued that the NES's Japanese counterpart, the Famicom, could be converted into a computer with a [[Family BASIC]] peripheral.{{sfn|Ichibian|2009|page=96}} Judge [[Fern M. Smith]] rejected this argument and declared that Mirrorsoft and Spectrum HoloByte had never received explicit authorization for marketing on consoles. On June 21, 1989, he ruled in Nintendo's favor, granting them a preliminary injunction against Atari Games.{{sfn|Ichibian|2009|page=96}} The next day, Atari Games withdrew its NES version from sale, and thousands of cartridges remained unsold in its warehouses. Preference for this version over Nintendo's led to Atari Games cartridges selling for up to $300 on the [[video game collecting|secondary market]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/details/nextgen-issue-26/page/n43/mode/2up |title=From Russia with Litigation |magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]] |issue=26 |date=February 1997 |page=42 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>