New York Times suffers setback in legal battle over 'Wordle' rights

The New York Times has suffered a setback in its legal dispute with the German puzzle producer Stefan Heine over the rights in Germany to the trademark "Wordle."

The Dusseldorf Regional Court rejected the US media giant's application for an interim injunction against Heine on Wednesday, with a judge saying there was no urgency.

The decision means that the case will probably not be decided until the main proceedings, unless both sides reach an out-of-court settlement.

The newspaper publisher accuses the German puzzle distributor of having only secured the German trademark rights to the popular online game "Wordle" in order to keep US competitors out of the German market. The Times sees this as an inadmissible "bad faith trademark application."

The online guessing game has become a worldwide success and is played by millions of people every day.

The US newspaper acquired all rights to the game from inventor Josh Wardle for $1.2 million. The problem at the heart of the case is that both Heine and the US publisher secured the trademark rights for "Wordle" on the same day: February 1, 2022.

Puzzle producer Heine denies the New York Times' accusation. "I registered the trademark Wordle on February 1, 2022, and therefore have the right to use the mark," he said.

Heine, who is from Hamburg, became known in 2005 in Germany with the distribution of Sudoku number puzzles.