Tetris, originally created by Soviet engineer Alexei Pajitnov, has a complex history marked by disputed copyright claims, erased collaborators, and offshore dealings. The game’s iconic tetromino shapes were not unique to Tetris but had been described decades earlier in mathematics literature, yet the Tetris Company claims exclusive rights, leading to aggressive legal actions. Emerging from Soviet state control during the Cold War, Tetris’s commercial success famously bridged opposing political systems but also involved murky privatization, legal battles, and controversial rewriting of its history.
https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-bizarre-murky-history-of-soviet-born-tetris/