New York Timesmarks 1,000th Wordle as it fights knockoffs

Wordle is definitely no flash in the pan.

The New York Times on Friday marked its 1,000th daily offering of the itsweb-based word game, which took off in popularity in October 2021 even before the company bought itfrom software engineer Josh Wardlefrom Brooklyn, N.Y., in early 2022, for a price the Times says was in "the low-seven figures."

The once-a-day online puzzle has become adaily ritualfor language sleuths whotry to figure out the secret five-letter word in just six guesses.

TheTimes has promised the game will remain free, and millions of people continue to testtheir word knowledge each day. But the company has also been trying to fight back against knockoffs.

The Timeshas beensending takedown notices to the creators of some of the Wordle-inspired games, citing copyright infringement, and is turning its focus on the website GitHub, where developers publicly share their code. The news companyfirstgot in touch with the website in early January in its campaign to stop copycats.

"We review all DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown requests thoroughly," GitHub said in a statement emailed to CBC News on Friday.

"If we find a request to be sufficiently detailed, we post it in our public repository and give the affected user(s) an opportunity to make changes before processing."

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In a statement,the Timessaid it hasnotified hundreds of people via GitHub about the copycats. Thecompany said it has no issue with people creating similar word games that do not infringe on copyrighted, but it took action against one user on the software developer platform who created a "Wordle clone" project that included instructions on how to create "a knockoff version"of Wordle, and against others who shared his code.

Before Wordle came to the Times's attention, it was already attracting millions of daily players during the pandemic.

Shared on social media

"Especially over the pandemic, we found ourselves in isolation, and kind of struggling for ways to connect with other people," saidEric Akaoka of Toronto, a product designer in the tech industry. He works from home,plays Wordle, and is part of a group chat that shares the outcomes.

He said he has played 747 games so far and has a winning streak of 119, with an overall win percentage of 99 per cent.The gamekeeps track of a player's statistics over time.

Akaoka saidwith pandemic news creating fear and uncertainty, "it was nice tosettle in with a small group of friends and have a verylow-stakes thing to go through together and havea shared point ofreference with people."

WATCH |Wordle a perfect fit for the pandemic, enigmatologists say:

Wordle a perfect fit for the pandemic, enigmatologists say

3 years ago

Duration 1:57

For millions around the world, Wordle is now part of their daily routine. But that rapid rise in popularity during the pandemic is also enticing copycat apps.

Wordle typically takes anywhere from 30 seconds to five minutes to play, so it's a "nice little healthy diversion," allowingfor a brief escape from life and a sense of accomplishment,Akoakatold CBC News.

One of the game'sstrengths isits daily format.

"You know exactlywhat to expect, and you can't really get thrown for a loop by this challenge, andit makes the ritual a lot more fulfilling and more enjoyable," he said.

Some notices for similar layout and colour schemes

In theearly days, Wordlewent viral due to asimple feature: Allowing players, known as Wordlers,to share results on social media or with friends in a group chat, and it would format a little picture of what the solved Wordle looked like, using emojis and little green and yellow squares.

The New York Times said copyright infringement of the game would apply to any World-inspired game with asimilar layout and colour scheme.

DMCAnotices act as a tool for copyright holders to get content that infringes on their intellectual property taken down. Impacted users can still fight to keep what they published up, but that opens up the possibility for costly litigation. As a result, many don't dispute takedowns.

Robert Brauneis, a professor of intellectual property law at George Washington University's Law School, said that a German-language Wordle spinoff that he and his wife used to play, which was once found at "wordle.at," appeared to have been removed in the last week or two suggesting that it may have also received a takedown notice.

As of Monday, a message on wordle.at's site, now named "Gridgames,"says the game was voluntarily removed after receiving a "complaint with reference to U.S. trademark law."