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NY Times issues DMCA takedowns of Wordle clones

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Re: NY Times issues DMCA takedowns of Wordle clones

#31

Post by nubinetwork »

hn_acker wrote: post #28
nubinetwork wrote: post #22

I'm getting Tetris Corp vibes...

I'm assuming that you're referring to the Tetris Holding, LLC v. Xio Interactive, Inc. case. My opinion is that only the color choices in Mino and possibly the placement of the next pieces display relative to the game board should've counted as infringement. Everything about the board size, the piece geometries, the piece movements, and the existence of the next pieces display, the number of pieces in the next pieces…

No I'm referring to how they shut down every block game clone, not a specific one in general.

Re: NY Times issues DMCA takedowns of Wordle clones

#32

Post by nesswit »

I received the same email. My repository is yf-dev/mahjong-hand-guessing-game, and it's a variant of the Wordle game with Japanese Rich Mahjong rules. I don't think it's the same game as Wordle, because it's not a word-guessing game, and it has a 14x6 grid. The name of the game is also inspired by Wordle, hence Mahjong Handle, but handle is a common noun that already exists, so I don't think there's a problem.

Re: NY Times issues DMCA takedowns of Wordle clones

#33

Post by extraduder_ire »

suddenclarity wrote: post #13

Archived: https://archive.is/D03zW The relevant part seems to be the mention of "React Wordle" as well as: > The Times owns U.S. Copyright Reg. No. PA0002342355 in Wordle as an electronic file and computer file for a videogame. The Times’s Wordle copyright includes the unique elements of its immensely popular game, such as the 5x6 grid, green tiles to indicate correct guesses, yellow tiles to indicate the correct let…

What on earth is "U.S. Copyright Reg. No. PA0002342355" I tried searching that string as well as the number itself on copyright.gov and in a search engine, but didn't find anything relevant. The web search did lead back to this set of comments though.

Re: NY Times issues DMCA takedowns of Wordle clones

#34

Post by [deleted] »

nesswit wrote: post #32

I received the same email. My repository is yf-dev/mahjong-hand-guessing-game, and it's a variant of the Wordle game with Japanese Rich Mahjong rules. I don't think it's the same game as Wordle, because it's not a word-guessing game, and it has a 14x6 grid. The name of the game is also inspired by Wordle, hence Mahjong Handle, but handle is a common noun that already exists, so I don't think there's a problem.

[deleted]

Re: NY Times issues DMCA takedowns of Wordle clones

#35

Post by igitur »

pwahs wrote: post #6

Can confirm, my version here also got a notice: https://github.com/pwahs/fillominordle Full notice is here: https://enterprise.githubsupport.com/attachments/token/cx6V4...

In that notice, they claim:

> We have given the owner a chance to remove all references to Wordle and alter his code to not infringe The Times’s copyright, but he has doubled down on knocking off The Times’s copyrighted content.

This is just false. The owner of the original Reactle repo (now deleted) was never contacted previously.

Re: NY Times issues DMCA takedowns of Wordle clones

#36

Post by suddenclarity »

extraduder_ire wrote: post #33
suddenclarity wrote: post #13

Archived: https://archive.is/D03zW The relevant part seems to be the mention of "React Wordle" as well as: > The Times owns U.S. Copyright Reg. No. PA0002342355 in Wordle as an electronic file and computer file for a videogame. The Times’s Wordle copyright includes the unique elements of its immensely popular game, such as the 5x6 grid, green tiles to indicate correct guesses, yellow tiles to indicate the correct let…

What on earth is "U.S. Copyright Reg. No. PA0002342355" I tried searching that string as well as the number itself on copyright.gov and in a search engine, but didn't find anything relevant. The web search did lead back to this set of comments though.

You probably didn't filter for the field "registration number":

https://publicrecords.copyright.gov/detailed-record/33738321

I've not found the submitted documents though, only confirmation that it exists.

Re: NY Times issues DMCA takedowns of Wordle clones

#37

Post by suddenclarity »

hn_acker wrote: post #27
suddenclarity wrote: post #13

Archived: https://archive.is/D03zW The relevant part seems to be the mention of "React Wordle" as well as: > The Times owns U.S. Copyright Reg. No. PA0002342355 in Wordle as an electronic file and computer file for a videogame. The Times’s Wordle copyright includes the unique elements of its immensely popular game, such as the 5x6 grid, green tiles to indicate correct guesses, yellow tiles to indicate the correct let…

Green in the US is the common sense color for being correct (or having permission to proceed, as in the case of a green traffic light or a "not occupied" restroom indicator, but I digress). New York Times, ever heard of a green checkmark? "Give the green light" meaning "give approval"? Green means yes. Green means good. (It also means envy... NY Times is seeing green.) Yellow to indicate the partial correctness of a…

I haven't been able to access their submitted copyright document so I don't know what they exactly copyrighted, and even if I did I don't know enough law to have an opinion, but I think your comment is missing one important aspect - the pieces as a whole.

Re: NY Times issues DMCA takedowns of Wordle clones

#40

Post by jsheard »

josephcsible wrote: post #39

Game mechanics aren't copyrightable, right? So unless these clones copied the code, aren't these takedowns invalid?

In general you can't copyright game mechanics, but trade dress laws provide a loophole around that. You can legally protect how a game is presented, and in some cases that's intrinsically tied to the game mechanics enough that you can't really get around it, which is how The Tetris Company has been able to effectively lock down the exclusive rights to the Tetris mechanics and successfully sued those who tried to make a Tetris clone without their approval.
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