Elektronorgtechnica

Elektronorgtechnica (also spelled Electronorgtechnica, Russian: Всесою́зное Объедине́ние «Электро́норгтехника», tr. Vsesoyúznoye Obyedinéniye "Elektrónorgtekhnika"), better known abbreviated as ELORG (Элорг), was a state-owned organization with a monopoly on the import and export of computer support and hardware and software in the Soviet Union.[1] It was controlled by the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR from 1971 to 1989.[2]

Elektronorgtechnica
IndustryImport/export of electronics
Founded1971
Defunct2005
FateSold to The Tetris Company in 2005
Headquarters
Moscow
,
Russia
ParentMinistry of Foreign Trade of the USSR (until 1989)
Integrated circuits with the logo of Elektronorgtechnika

The company was associated with the export of Soviet design calculators, Electronika being one brand that was exported, rebranding them as ELORG products.[3] Elorg also marketed the Agat computer,[4] and imported IBM computers into the Soviet Union, starting with the IBM System/360 Model 50 in 1971.[5]

Robert Maxwell pressured Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to cancel the contract between Elorg and Nintendo concerning the rights to the game Tetris.[6]

In 1991, as the Soviet Union was being dissolved, Elorg was turned into a private business by its director, Nikolai Belikov.[7] Elorg was sold to The Tetris Company in January 2005 for $15 million.[8]

Tetris
Elorg copyright notice on the back cover of the 1987 edition of Tetris

ELORG was responsible for the licensing of the popular video game Tetris.[9] Tetris was written by salaried programmers at the Soviet Academy of Sciences, which was not allowed to carry out commercial activities directly.[1] As the game was owned by the state, all rights to the game worldwide were handled by ELORG.[10] In 1996 ELORG was reportedly a privatised Russian company which retained the rights to the Tetris trademark.[11][12]

ELORG was a partner in The Tetris Company which licenses the Tetris name to game companies, along with Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov and businessman Henk Rogers. Elorg was a 50 percent owner in the company until Rogers and Pajitnov bought ELORG's remaining rights around 2005.[13][14]

References
  1. "Интеллектуальная собственность / Тетрис". Kommersant. 12 September 1995. Archived from the original on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  2. "Список министерств и ведомств, их структурных подразделений и подведомственных организаций, документы которых переданы" (PDF). Economy.gov.ru. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  3. Museum of Soviet Calculators on the Web - Export and Foreign Archived 2006-06-15 at the Wayback Machine, accessed June 1, 2006
  4. "New Chips". Byte Magazine. 9 (12). 1984. Archived from the original on 17 February 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  5. "Чаепитие в честь 20 лет IBM на российском рынке". 7 September 1992. Archived from the original on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  6. Ichbiah, Daniel (1997). La Saga des Jeux Vidéo (in French) (1st ed.). Pix'N Love Editions. p. 95. ISBN 2266087630.
  7. Books, Worth (2017). Summary and Analysis of The Tetris Effect: The Game that Hypnotized the World: Based on the Book by Dan Ackerman. Open Road Media. p. 30. ISBN 9781504008716. Archived from the original on 2017-09-21.
  8. "CASE NO. 12-2-23972-0 SEA" (PDF). Summitlaw.com. p. 5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 September 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  9. Atari HQ: Tetris History Archived 2012-05-07 at the Wayback Machine, accessed June 1, 2006
  10. "Tetris Story" Archived 2006-08-21 at the Wayback Machine by Vadim Gerasimov, accessed April 15, 2007
  11. PR Newswire - "Tetris Inventor Gets His Due in Historic Russia/US Joint Venture" Archived 2012-02-12 at the Wayback Machine, accessed June 1, 2006
  12. The Tetris Taxonomy - "Putting the puzzle pieces back together: Alexey Pajitnov has a new game plan for Tetris." Archived 2006-06-22 at the Wayback Machine, accessed June 1, 2006
  13. Hartley, Matt (2009-06-06). "Rock around the blocks - The Globe and Mail". Toronto. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved 2011-02-17.
  14. Remo, Chris (2009-09-10). "The Man Who Won Tetris". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 2014-04-18. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
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