The New York Times has used a DMCA take down notice to remove an open source Wordle clone called Reactle

  • BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.worldOP
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    8 months ago

    This to me sounds like a misuse of DMCA - it’s original open source code not stolen code, so the only “infringement” is dubious around whether you can clone a game or if a game belongs to whoever “owns” it. I can see they could have grounds to take the project to court to establish whether their copyright ownership of Wordle prevents anyone making their own version, but using DMCA for independently made code seems like a big overstep. Two corporations (Microsoft and the NYT) making decisions about whether software can be posted, and the poorly thought out DMCA rearing it’s head again.

    • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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      8 months ago

      Yeah and wordle didn’t invent any of the underlying game mechanics. It’s just Hangman + Mastermind

    • Venator@lemmy.nz
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      8 months ago

      Also they only bought the domain, and haven’t patented any part of the game design…