The owner of the popular online game Wordle is facing a legal dispute with a geography-based spin-off called Worldle.
In the filing, the New York Times, which purchased Wordle for a seven-figure sum in 2022, accuses its near-namesake of “creating confusion” and attempting to capitalize on “the immense goodwill” associated with its own brand.
However, the creator of Worldle, software developer Kory McDonald, promises to fight back, arguing that many other games have similar titles.
“There is a whole industry of [dot]LE games,” he told the BBC.
“Wordle is about words, Worldle is about the world, Flaggle is about flags,” he pointed out.
The New York Times disagrees.
Worldle is “nearly identical in appearance, sound, meaning, and conveys the same commercial impression as… Wordle,” the legal document states.
The newspaper told the BBC it had no further comments beyond the contents of its legal filing.
Word Association
British inventor Josh Wardle developed Wordle in 2021 as a side project to entertain his girlfriend.
Since then, it has become a phenomenon, reaching millions of people worldwide.
In contrast, around 100,000 people play Worldle each month, according to Mr. McDonald, who is based in Seattle.
It is not available as an app and can only be played through a web browser.
It contains ads, with an option to play ad-free for £10 a year, but Mr. McDonald says most of the money he makes from the game goes to Google because he uses images from Google Street View, which players must try to identify.
He selects a different image each night for a new game the next day.
“It’s quite humbling to think that so many people play each month,” he said.
“I did not expect to have this kind of success at all.”
He is not the only one capitalizing on Wordle’s success. Others include:
- Quordle, a set of four words to guess simultaneously
- Nerdle, a math-based challenge
- Heardle, which is based on identifying music
There is even another game called Worldle, which involves identifying countries by their outlines.
The New York Times declined to say if it intends to pursue them as well.
Speaking to the BBC last year, head of games Jonathan Knight said imitation was “the sincerest form of flattery.”
“We have always been okay with [similar games] and believe they only help keep the game fresh and alive for people,” he said then.
However, this is not the first time the New York Times has resorted to the courts to protect its prized game.
In March 2024, a Shetland dialect version of Wordle said it would shut down following a copyright challenge from the publishing group.
Professor David Levine, a copyright expert at Elon University School of Law, suggested that the future of Mr. McDonald’s project could also be in jeopardy.
He said the one-letter difference between the two names was potentially problematic, adding that there were also “other aspects of potential consumer confusion.”
“You have the pronunciation,” he told the BBC.
“I mean, I have to make an effort here to say Wordle versus Worldle.”
Mr. McDonald said he was disappointed that legal action was being taken against him but insisted he was undeterred.
“I’m just a one-man operation here, so I was a bit taken aback,” he said.
“At worst, we will rebrand, but I think we’ll be fine.”
Additional reporting by Franchesca Hashemi.
