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New York Times is targeting Wordle clones with DMCA takedowns

theverge.com

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Re: New York Times is targeting Wordle clones with DMCA takedowns

#21

Post by Kluggy »

pgrote wrote: post #6
mryall wrote: post #2

> In a statement to 404 Media, the Times said: > > The Times has no issue with individuals creating similar word games that do not infringe The Times’s “Wordle” trademarks or copyrighted gameplay. Can you really copyright “gameplay”? This seems like pointless bullying by the Times, who is probably just upset they haven’t got a positive ROI on their acquisition of a free game.

Lingo seems like Wordle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC0kie6dPjo Maybe the copyright is on the colors on the game field?

> The New York Times — which purchased Wordle back in 2022 — has filed several DMCA notices over Wordle clones created by GitHub coders, citing its ownership over the Wordle name and copyrighted gameplay including 5x6 tile layout and gray, yellow, and green color scheme.

Re: New York Times is targeting Wordle clones with DMCA takedowns

#23

Post by crtified »

The asset NYT bought when they bought Wordle, was to have their name indelibly associated with a trend that is more popular than they themselves are.

It is simply "our name in your face, on a regular basis, for years" advertising, at a global scale.

Case in point : here we all are, thinking and talking about the NYT.

That is the ROI.

Re: New York Times is targeting Wordle clones with DMCA takedowns

#24

Post by jkaplowitz »

a1o wrote: post #8

Mechanics can't be copyrighted (unless it's MTG tap mechanic, it seems), but what is weird is apparently the projects it went against were in different languages that Wordle doesn't cover (which I think matters considering Wordle is about guessing words) and using a different name.

Lots of other games have the same mechanic as MTG’s tapping. But to avoid legal threats from WotC/Hasbro, most of them call it exhausting or refreshing or other similar words.

I’m skeptical that there’s any valid legal claim there, but if it is more legitimate than well-funded big-corp lawyer bullying, it’s either a trademark claim or a claim that any game with a card-refresh mechanic called “tapping” must be a derivative work of MTG for copyright purposes.

Re: New York Times is targeting Wordle clones with DMCA takedowns

#25

Post by [deleted] »

archontes wrote: post #20
mryall wrote: post #2

> In a statement to 404 Media, the Times said: > > The Times has no issue with individuals creating similar word games that do not infringe The Times’s “Wordle” trademarks or copyrighted gameplay. Can you really copyright “gameplay”? This seems like pointless bullying by the Times, who is probably just upset they haven’t got a positive ROI on their acquisition of a free game.

You cannot copyright gameplay. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/intellectual_property_law... .

[deleted]

Re: New York Times is targeting Wordle clones with DMCA takedowns

#26

Post by dabernathy89 »

mryall wrote: post #2

> In a statement to 404 Media, the Times said: > > The Times has no issue with individuals creating similar word games that do not infringe The Times’s “Wordle” trademarks or copyrighted gameplay. Can you really copyright “gameplay”? This seems like pointless bullying by the Times, who is probably just upset they haven’t got a positive ROI on their acquisition of a free game.

You can patent game mechanics - famous example would be Legend of Zelda's targeting system. Apparently Nintendo is extremely aggressive about patenting game mechanics.

https://kotaku.com/nintendo-is-trying-to-patent-some-really-...

Re: New York Times is targeting Wordle clones with DMCA takedowns

#27

Post by CannisterFlux »

standardly wrote: post #5
mryall wrote: post #2

> In a statement to 404 Media, the Times said: > > The Times has no issue with individuals creating similar word games that do not infringe The Times’s “Wordle” trademarks or copyrighted gameplay. Can you really copyright “gameplay”? This seems like pointless bullying by the Times, who is probably just upset they haven’t got a positive ROI on their acquisition of a free game.

Not sure why you're grayed out - no, you cannot copywrite gameplay. The name "Wordle" could be protected, though, which is probably the case here. In any case, Wordle is too damn easy. Don't think I've ever lost. I recommend sedecordle for word enjoyers

Yeah I stopped playing it pretty quickly. There was that not-wordle game where you had to not get the word. It made me realise just how tricky failing wordle was.

I still do "where taken", which is photos of countries, tradle for oec trade commodities and guess the game for video games. They're all far more interesting than guessing some random word.

Re: New York Times is targeting Wordle clones with DMCA takedowns

#28

Post by quink »

kepler1 wrote: post #7

A company wants to enforce its copyright, etc., fine. That's their right to do so. Although I beg to differ with our copyright laws. No, what I find objectionable about the NYT games team, such as their spelling bee puzzle, is that they selectively deem certain words not valid responses. Not curse words or words with no redeeming value, but words that are perceived to be derogatory against disadvantaged groups or "of…

> words that are perceived to be derogatory against disadvantaged groups

The _game_ won't accept responses of such a nature? That doesn't sound too bad.

Re: New York Times is targeting Wordle clones with DMCA takedowns

#29

Post by jmull »

kepler1 wrote: post #7

A company wants to enforce its copyright, etc., fine. That's their right to do so. Although I beg to differ with our copyright laws. No, what I find objectionable about the NYT games team, such as their spelling bee puzzle, is that they selectively deem certain words not valid responses. Not curse words or words with no redeeming value, but words that are perceived to be derogatory against disadvantaged groups or "of…

Oh, come on.

These word games are for casual fun and enjoyment.

It's really not a big deal whether a particular word is included or not in the dictionary for a particular game. For Spelling Bee, the levels appear to be calculated based on the word list, so while it may be a little frustrating that a particular real (albeit off-colored, so to speak) word isn't accepted, rest assured that that doesn't doesn't affect the puzzle's difficulty. So no harm done. IMO, if some particular word removes more fun than it adds, good riddance.

Personally, I was most offended when "ichor" was not accepted, though I'm happy to say their reporting mechanism seemed to work, because it seems to be accepted now at least in the pangram game.

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