New York Times fights against similar Wordle games in a copyright issue.

The New York Times is taking legal action against many games similar to Wordle because they look too much like Wordle. Since Wordle became very popular online, hundreds of similar games have been made. After buying Wordle in 2022, the Times started to send warnings to people who made games like it. They said these games were too much like Wordle and that wasn't allowed.

The Times told a person on GitHub to change his Wordle-like game because it broke their rules. When this person and others didn't change their games, the Times got upset because these games used things that the Times said were theirs without asking. The company acted because some games were using Wordle's name and how the game looked without permission. These actions have made some game makers unhappy because they have to stop sharing their games.

A software engineer made his own version of Wordle for fun. But now, the New York Times is trying to stop others from playing games like it. This has made some people wonder why the Times is doing this when their game is already very popular. Some believe the Times won't gain much from stopping these smaller games.

An expert in law thinks the Times might not have a strong case for some parts of Wordle. Things like the game's rules or the layout might not be protected by copyright laws. Even though the Times has rights to the Wordle name, using it to stop others in a copyright claim might not be correct. This is because copyright and trademark laws are different.

Wordle was made by Josh Wardle and quickly became a hit before the Times bought it. It inspired other fun games, like ones where you guess songs or words related to different topics. The Times is planning a big celebration for the 1000th Wordle puzzle. They're calling it a big party to remember all the fun puzzles before.