Life After Sudoku, and Still No Trademarks

It's kind of a neat idea that 81 little squares with some numbers inside could generate global sales in excess of $250 million in two years -- not to mention converting an estimated 80 million people into Sudoku players. Sudoku is a puzzle game from Japan that captivated the U.S. puzzle market beginning two years ago, but only because of a fortuitous lack of foresight.

The first marketer and self-proclaimed originator of Sudoku, Maki Kaji, didn't expect such enormous success. So his business, Nikoli, never trademarked the game. A NY Times article reports, however, that Mr. Kaji now sees only the upside for Nikoli:

In hindsight, though, he now thinks that oversight was a brilliant mistake. The fact that no one controlled sudoku’s intellectual property rights let the game’s popularity grow unfettered, Mr. Kaji says. Nikoli does not plan to trademark other new games, either, in hopes this will also help them take off.

“This openness is more in keeping with Nikoli’s open culture,” said Mr. Kaji, who sat on a sofa in his Tokyo office among pillows adorned with printed faces of racehorses. “We’re prolific because we do it for the love of games, not for the money.”

Ultimately, Nikoli's failure to claim Sudoku for itself enabled the game to spread in a way marketers only dream about. 

(Image of Sudoku Puzzle by BooyaBazooka)