Worldle LLC cannot register WORLDLE for online game software because buyers may confuse it with WORDLE

Decision Desk · November 4, 2026 decision · Nonprecedential

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the Board) is the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office panel that decides challenges to trademark registrations and appeals from refused applications. The Board marked this opinion nonprecedential, meaning it does not bind the Board in later cases.

Worldle LLC filed an application, a request to register a mark, for WORLDLE on online game software used without downloads. The Board upheld The New York Times Company’s opposition, a challenge to that application, after finding that buyers would likely confuse WORLDLE with WORDLE. Opinion, pp. 1, 44.

Source: the Board’s complete opinion in case 91291631, with page citations below. This report describes the decision; it is not legal advice.

The Times’ challenge cited a WORDLE registration, the official listing of a mark for specified products, covering downloadable software for playing word puzzle games. The Board said the Times did not have to prove that its rights came first because it had filed evidence of its WORDLE registration, and Worldle LLC had not asked the Board to cancel that registration. Opinion, pp. 2, 6.

The Times argued that WORDLE was famous, strong and well known. Worldle LLC argued that other game makers’ use of similar names had weakened WORDLE and that its geography game differed from the Times’ word game. Opinion, pp. 16, 23.

The Board found that WORLDLE and WORDLE look very similar and that many buyers would pronounce them similarly. It said that, for buyers who saw meaning in the names, both suggested puzzle games, one about words and the other about geography. The Board gave little weight to a BBC news clip because the reporter had to concentrate to pronounce WORLDLE differently from WORDLE. Opinion, pp. 10, 13.

The Board said Worldle LLC’s application covered online game software broadly enough to include word puzzle games, despite its current geography game. It found that software very closely related to the Times’ downloadable word puzzle game software. Opinion, p. 17.

The Board found WORDLE strong and well known in the United States, but said it lacked figures comparing the game with competing products to find the mark famous. It found that almost none of the other game names Worldle LLC identified were as similar to WORDLE as WORLDLE was. The Board found that the games could reach the same kinds of buyers, but said the evidence about where each game was offered weighed slightly in Worldle LLC’s favor. Opinion, pp. 19, 25, 30.

The Board gave little weight to the lack of documented buyer confusion over about four years because users of free games had little reason to report mistakes. The Board said the case concerned the game’s name, and that the Times was not seeking to prevent Worldle LLC from offering a geography puzzle game. Opinion, pp. 35, 44.

This report describes the decision as issued; it does not follow any later appeal.

Sources

• The Board’s complete opinion; GleanMark case record.