{"id":21220,"date":"2023-08-30T15:15:03","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T06:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=21220"},"modified":"2023-08-30T15:15:04","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T06:15:04","slug":"20230830-21220","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/","title":{"rendered":"Trademark holder of Sudoku in Japan asserts their right over the puzzle&#8217;s name"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Japanese game publisher Nikoli made a statement on August 29, emphasizing that <strong>Sudoku<\/strong> is their registered trademark. The company warned users about apps, web services, and advertisements that have no relation to the company using the name \u201cSudoku.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-001.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-001.jpeg 1280w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-001-600x400.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-001-380x253.jpeg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-001-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-001-150x100.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-001-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-001-696x464.jpeg 696w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-001-1068x712.jpeg 1068w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-001-630x420.jpeg 630w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The name Sudoku, referring to the internationally known logic-based number placement puzzle, is actually a registered trademark in Japan. The holder of the trademark is Nikoli, the publisher that gave Sudoku its current name and first started publishing Sudoku puzzles in mainstream print in Japan. As Sudoku is originally based on a puzzle that was known as \u201cNumber Place,\u201d the general, non-trademarked term used for the popular 9&#215;9 square puzzle in Japan is an abbreviation of this name, \u201cNanpure\u201d (from Num(ber) Pl(ace).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, Nikoli&#8217;s official X\/Twitter account brought up instances of apps, web services, and advertisements using the name Sudoku without the company\u2019s permission. Nikoli reiterated that Sudoku is their registered trademark and stressed that everything outside of what\u2019s in their publications and on their website is unrelated to their company. Due to the widespread use of the term Sudoku for the specific format of puzzles, situations in which the name is being used without the company&#8217;s permission have inevitably arisen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u5927\u4e8b\u306a\u304a\u77e5\u3089\u305b\u3067\u3059\u3002<br>\u300c\u6570\u72ec\uff0fSUDOKU\u300d\u306f\u3001\uff08\u682a\uff09\u30cb\u30b3\u30ea\u306e\u767b\u9332\u5546\u6a19\u3067\u3059\u304c\u3001\u5f53\u793e\u306b\u7121\u65ad\u3067\u300c\u6570\u72ec\u300d\u306e\u540d\u79f0\u3092\u4f7f\u7528\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u3001web\u30b5\u30fc\u30d3\u30b9\u3001\u306a\u3089\u3073\u306b\u305d\u308c\u3089\u306e\u5e83\u544a\u3092\u898b\u304b\u3051\u308b\u3053\u3068\u304c\u3042\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\u2070\u5f53\u793e\u306e\u66f8\u7c4d\u3084\u30db\u30fc\u30e0\u30da\u30fc\u30b8\u3067\u7d39\u4ecb\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3082\u306e\u4ee5\u5916\u306f\u3001\u5f53\u793e\u3068\u306f\u4e00\u5207\u95a2\u4fc2\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u306e\u3067\u3054\u6ce8\u610f\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3044\u3002<\/p>&mdash; \u30cb\u30b3\u30ea\uff0fnikoli (\u30d1\u30ba\u30eb\u306e\u672c\u3092\u4f5c\u3063\u3066\u307e\u3059\u3002\u30aa\u30ea\u30b8\u30ca\u30eb\u30d1\u30ba\u30eb\u3082\u4f5c\u308a\u307e\u3059) (@nikoli_official) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nikoli_official\/status\/1696179839882187159?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 28, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><font size=\"2\"><strong>Post translation:<\/strong> Important Announcement: Sudoku is a registered trademark of Nikoli Co., Ltd. However, there have been instances of apps, web services, and advertisements using the name Sudoku without our permission. Please note that anything not included in our publications or on our website is not affiliated with our company in any way.<\/font><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The name Sudoku was conceived by the late Maki Kaji, who was the president of Nikoli at the time, as a way to introduce the puzzle to the Japanese market. The initial name was \u201cSuji wa dokushin ni kagiru,\u201d which refers to the rule of placing single-digit numbers in the puzzle, and translates literally to &#8220;the numbers must be single (as in unmarried)&#8221; (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.asahi.com\/articles\/ASP8J5RDLP8JUCFI006.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Asahi Shimbun<\/a>). The abbreviation of the term, Sudoku, was later used in publications and went on to become a global trend. This led to a reverse import of the trend back to Japan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, as mentioned earlier, the term Nanpure is also widely used in Japan, so unauthorized use of the term Sudoku can be misleading. There have been reports of unrelated apps using the name Sudoku in their titles advertising with nonsensical claims such as, &#8220;Solve puzzles to protect your brain from radiation.\u201d Perhaps in fear of having their reputation tarnished by such occurrences, Nikoli has decided to reemphasize their rights over the Sudoku trademark, warning users about unauthorized use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-002.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-002.jpeg 1280w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-002-600x338.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-002-380x214.jpeg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-002-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-002-150x84.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-002-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-002-696x392.jpeg 696w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-002-1068x601.jpeg 1068w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-002-747x420.jpeg 747w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Incidentally, specifically in the field of puzzles and board games, there are similar instances of names being trademarked in Japan. For example, MegaHouse owns the exclusive right to the title Othello and stresses that the trademark cannot be used without their permission (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.othello.gr.jp\/trademark_registrations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Japanese Othello Federation<\/a>). As a result, games with a similar concept are often referred to as Reversi, the original name of the board game.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Excluding cases where trademarks have become general terms, the unauthorized use of trademarked names for products without permission from the rights holders constitutes as trademark infringement. In the case of Sudoku, suitable measures may be taken against apps and web services using the trademarked name without permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><br><br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:12px\"><em>Written by. Remi Morisawa based on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/articles\/newsjp\/20230829-262055\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">original Japanese article<\/a>&nbsp;(original article\u2019s publication date:<\/em>&nbsp;<em>2023-08-29 18:45<\/em>&nbsp;<em>JST)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Japanese game publisher Nikoli, trademark holder of puzzle game Sudoku, warns about unaffiliated &#8220;Sudoku&#8221; apps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":21222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-21220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Trademark holder of Sudoku in Japan asserts their right over the puzzle&#039;s name - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Japanese game publisher Nikoli, trademark holder of puzzle game Sudoku, warns about unaffiliated &quot;Sudoku&quot; apps.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trademark holder of Sudoku in Japan asserts their right over the puzzle&#039;s name - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Japanese game publisher Nikoli, trademark holder of puzzle game Sudoku, warns about unaffiliated &quot;Sudoku&quot; apps.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-30T06:15:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-30T06:15:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-header.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hideaki Fujiwara\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hideaki Fujiwara\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trademark holder of Sudoku in Japan asserts their right over the puzzle's name - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Japanese game publisher Nikoli, trademark holder of puzzle game Sudoku, warns about unaffiliated \"Sudoku\" apps.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trademark holder of Sudoku in Japan asserts their right over the puzzle's name - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Japanese game publisher Nikoli, trademark holder of puzzle game Sudoku, warns about unaffiliated \"Sudoku\" apps.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2023-08-30T06:15:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-08-30T06:15:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":853,"url":"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-header.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hideaki Fujiwara","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hideaki Fujiwara","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/"},"author":{"name":"Hideaki Fujiwara","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d7c6807a5a0a89cb5f7764ae96ffa985"},"headline":"Trademark holder of Sudoku in Japan asserts their right over the puzzle&#8217;s name","datePublished":"2023-08-30T06:15:03+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-30T06:15:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/"},"wordCount":590,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-header.jpeg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/","name":"Trademark holder of Sudoku in Japan asserts their right over the puzzle's name - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-header.jpeg","datePublished":"2023-08-30T06:15:03+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-30T06:15:04+00:00","description":"Japanese game publisher Nikoli, trademark holder of puzzle game Sudoku, warns about unaffiliated \"Sudoku\" apps.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-header.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230830-21220-header.jpeg","width":1280,"height":853},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230830-21220\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trademark holder of Sudoku in Japan asserts their right over the puzzle&#8217;s name"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d7c6807a5a0a89cb5f7764ae96ffa985","name":"Hideaki Fujiwara","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/261fb30e148f01d8a7b7752437b9edb5-150x150-1-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/261fb30e148f01d8a7b7752437b9edb5-150x150-1-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/261fb30e148f01d8a7b7752437b9edb5-150x150-1-100x100.jpg","caption":"Hideaki Fujiwara"},"description":"Automaton Japan Deputy Editor-in-Chief. Voracious gamer who plays everything. Loved Titanfall 2 and has been playing Apex Legends since its launch.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/hideaki-fujiwara\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21220"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21229,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21220\/revisions\/21229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}