Wordle in legal row with geography spinoff, Worldle
3 hours ago Zoe Kleinman , Technology editor Share
Getty and Kody McDonald
The owner of the hit online game Wordle is legally challenging a geography-based spinoff 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 capitalise “on the enormous goodwill” associated with its own brand. But the creator of Worldle, software developer Kody McDonald, is vowing to fight back on the grounds that there are many other games with similar titles. “There's 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 imparts the same commercial impression to… Wordle” it says in its legal document. The paper told the BBC it had no further comment to make beyond the contents of its legal submission.
Word association
Wordle began in 2021 as a side project to keep the girlfriend of its British inventor, Josh Wardle, entertained. But since then it has become a behemoth, reaching millions of people worldwide. By contrast, around 100,000 people play Worldle every month, according to Mr McDonald, who is based in Seattle. It is not available as an app and can only be played via a web browser. It contains ads, with an option for play ad-free for £10 per year but Mr McDonald says that most of the money he makes from the game goes to Google because he uses Google Street View images, which players have to try to identify.
Kody McDonald Kody McDonald says he is surprised he faces legal action