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NYTimes Files Copyright Takedown Against Hundreds of Wordle Clones
(www.404media.co)
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this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2024
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New York Times really is hurting for money, huh?
I mean, in the USA you cannot copyright or trademark the broad gameplay mechanics theyre claiming to own (even specific gameplay mechanics like portals from Portal), nor would those be protectable under DMCA, so everything theyre trying to claim will be immediately tossed out of court.
Theyre literally trying to copy Nintendo. They dont want to go to court. They want settlement money.
Somebody pointed out in another post that wordle is the same thing as a game show from the 80s, including the five letter words and the square colors being highlighted based on being in the word or in the right place.
The New York Times is just bullying with nothing to stand on except the ability to spend more on lawyers than whoever they are suing.
It's really just Mastermind with letters instead of colors. And they didn't even create Wordle either, they bought it from the original creator and tried to lock it up behind a paywall. I still sometimes get told I have to subscribe to play. I've mostly given up on it because it's lost it's appeal for me anyway.
Fifty bucks a year is not bad considering you get thirty years worth of crosswords, too.
Except I can get crosswords elsewhere. I have two different apps on my phone that provide the same enjoyment. Maybe not up to the quality that people like from NYT but they do the job for me.
Is thirty years really all they have digitized? Jesus, that's weaksauce.
Not just 80s, Lingo was a popular game show that aired in the 2000s and (from what I heard from a redditor a couple years back) still airs in some countries. Wordle is a rip-off of Lingo.
Under the name Motus, it aired in France without interruption from 1990 to 2019.
There were a few specific rule changes, after a while they started using 6- then 7- to 10-letter words (makes sense, since words tend to be longer in French and 5-letter words were a bit too limiting).
That's interesting!
I remembered after commenting that Lingo is being revived and they also have some 6 and 10 letter words as well. Maybe they got that idea of Motus!
On the subject of game shows with adaptations that last a lot longer in other countries, Don't Forget The Lyrics! still exists in France ("N'oubliez pas les paroles!"), is still quite popular and still airing every day on a major station. With occasional prime events, usually with champions or celebrities playing for charity.
If what I saw on wikipedia is correct, the original US show only lasted from 2007 to 2011.
Interestingly the formula of the French version has changed quite a bit from the original too.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulls_and_cows
That being said I do like the Wordly app cuz you can customize the length of the words, and some other tweaks.
I think they're referencing Lingo! the gameshow from the 80's.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingo_(American_game_show)
I'm referencing an even earlier version that was so old it was on mainframes 😜
But they said this... I don't think Bulls and Cows was a game show.
If we're just looking for the "earliest" game, then I think we're looking for Jotto... Which was 50's.
More like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingo_(American_game_show)
Game design isn't copyrightable. Code is, they could have a case if someone literally copied the code (which is very easy given its all run in browser).
It isn' t about cofe.
The list of words in order also definitely is.
And a lot of them are trying to stay matched to the real one.
Meanwhile, NYT's Connections is basically a direct rip of Only Connect's connections wall round
Or they want to bully smaller devs who don't have the resources to fight them to close down.