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Not more than 24 hours after reporting about the availability of Flying Rider in the App Store, the developer of the game will be ceasing developing of Flying Rider and it will be removed from the App Store. The reason is that the developer of Line Rider, of which Flying Rider is based upon, has been sending daily emails to the developer of Flying Rider, telling him he does not have the right to make Flying Rider available in the App Store.
The 15 August, Flying Rider will be removed from the App Store has inXile required it. I receive one mail per day attacking me for rights reasons… It’s very boring, so I decide to stop everything. Sorry for you guys. Understand that I have put money and time on this project, it’s hard for me too… But the sharks always win…
Flying Rider will no longer be available after tomorrow. This begs the question, does the developer of Line Rider, inXile Entertainment, plan on releasing their own version of Line Rider for the iPhone/iPod Touch, thus the reason for all this?
[...] 2: Flying Rider is no more. Read our post here for more [...]
Uh, unless they ripped graphics from Line Rider, isn’t it fair game?
I don’t think you can copyright lines, but perhaps they have some sort of copyright on the concept itself. I’m no lawyer, though.
Whatever the case may be, the simple fact of the matter is that the developer of Flying Rider probably doesn’t have the time or money needed to defend himself if he was was taken to court over it.
[...] Source [...]
[...] Finger Gaming) Related Stories:August 13, 2008 — Line Rider Type of Game (Flying Rider) Officially [...]
I’ve been amazed to find that people don’t think borrowing a game concept constitutes copyright infringement. The folks that came with Line Rider made a unique game, and you shouldn’t simply be able to copy their concept and release it as your own for free or for money without their permission. I’m glad to see that the developer of Flying Rider is cooperating with the Line Rider folks and has removed the app.
There are TONS of other applications that are knock offs on the App Store as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see more apps getting pulled. Just take a look in the word games section at the number of Boggle clones. As we’ve seen with the Scrabulous case on Facebook, Hasbro is very protective of their IP. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the boggle clones on the iPhone app store get contacted by Hasbro legal too.
You can’t copyright a game concept. Only written game descriptions, instructions, and artwork.
The closes you can come to protecting game concepts and mechanics is a patent, but it is almost unheard of.
[...] we saw the French developer of Flying Rider, which was a clone of Line Rider, go through the same situation when the Line Rider developer told him to remove his game. Apple’s App Store is a lucrative [...]
[...] Flying Rider and Tris, Rockfall ($1.99) is the next game whose developer was threatened by the developers of the [...]
[...] developers of Line Rider, will be bringing the game to the iPhone. After the hullaboo regarding Flying Rider, I emailed inXile Entertainment to see if they planned on bringing Line Rider to the iPhone [...]
[...] month ago, the Line Rider clone, Flying Rider was told to cease and desist by InXile Entertainment. Now the official Line Rider for the iPhone and iPod Touch is available in [...]