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IF there are copyright issues, then they are only with Nintendo.

AFAIK the assets are all original, so there ARE copyright issues and they AREN'T with Nintendo.

I bet Nintendo could convince a jury that the graphics were copied. I doubt they will though.

This is unlikely, especially as its fairly easily demonstrated that they are, pixel-for-pixel, quite different. There have been a lot of non-Nintendo green pipes, internet commentators with small reference pools notwithstanding.

Copyright doesn't require pixel for pixel similarities.

It does require broader similarities than green pipes. And Nintendo is on record that Flappy Bird does not violate their IP.[1]

[1] http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/02/10/no-complaints-about-f...

You don't have to actually copy assets to be guilty of copyright infringement. Copying the look and feel is sufficient. See any of the Tetris or Pac-Man cases, for example.

Pac-Man except for when King.com is the developer, of course.

So as long as one uses things that might already have infringed copyright, it's okay to do so?

I strongly disagree. If there's a problem it's the (allegedly) original copyright holder and the (allegedly) copyright violator's problem. This does not allow others to copy it, just because it's currently viral.

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