The New York Times, which owns Wordle, has been embroiled in a battle with German puzzle distributor Stefan Heine over his own equivalent game. A court decision on Friday ended the dispute.
ADVERTISEMENTA German court has dismissed a legal case raised by the New York Times over the trademark of the puzzle Wordle.
The American news outlet wants Stefan Heine, a puzzle maker based in the German city of Hamburg, to stop using the name for his own game.
On February 1 2022, Heine secured the German rights to Wordle - the same day as the NY Times.
German courts ruled that the media outlet had no prior rights to the name, and that the claims brought by both parties couldn't be proven.
It notably disputed the NY Times' argument that Heine had registered the trademark to keep the American firm out of the German market. Heine denies filing a “bad faith” trademark.
"I would hope that the New York Times would now come to its senses and recognise that it will not win, or that it listens to me and understands why I did it," Heine said following the ruling.
"Puzzles have been my passion for 29 years. I want to see good puzzles in the world, and Wordle is a lovely puzzle that is fun."
Heine also said that he would have liked to distribute the online game in Europe alongside the New York Times, a proposition the firm wasn’t interested in.
The American firm bought Wordle from its creator, Josh Wardle, for $1.2 million (€1.1 million) in 2022.
The software engineer had originally designed the free game during the pandemic, and said he was thrilled and overwhelmed by its success.
Within two months of its public release in October 2021, the number of daily users shot from 90 to around 300,000.
Players of Wordle have six attempts to guess a five-letter word, which changes daily.
