Noah Witherspoon’s Tetris-like Tris is getting the boot from the iPhone and iPod touch App Store, but in a new twist to the Apple take down game, the announcement came before the app disappeared. In other cases where an application was pulled from the App Store users have been left to guess why after the fact.

Mr. Witherspoon announced on his blog that he was told by Apple that the Tetris Company claimed his game violated copyrights they own and that it would be removed from the App Store by August 27. He thinks the company has little ground to stand on, but doesn’t have the money to fight Tetris Company in court since he’s a cash-strapped college student.

Tris: Number 1 at the App Store

"The trouble is, I’m a college student, and not an affluent one, and I simply do not have the time, energy, or resources to fight this battle right now. There’s a point at which I am willing to give up and be practical, to let the world have its way with that ever-mistreated little ideal of ’principle’," Mr. Witherspoon said. "Thus, it’s with great sadness that I must announce that I’ll be pulling Tris from the App Store on Wednesday, August 27th, to remain in Apple’s systems but publicly unavailable until I work out a solution to this."

Apparently the Tetris Company is asserting that its copyright extends to the idea behind Mr. Witherspoon’s game, which is something that U.S. copyright law doesn’t directly protect.

Tris had already risen to the top of the most popular free App Store offerings, and it will likely hold the number one spot until the game is pulled from the iTunes-based store as interested iPhone and iPod touch users rush to download it.

Whether or not Tris could return to the App Store at some later date remains to be seen. For now that seems unlikely since it doesn’t look like Mr. Witherspoon and the Tetris Company are negotiating.