'Scrabble' maker Hasbro sues over 'Scrabulous'
This is the lawsuit we all knew was coming: Hasbro, which sells the Scrabble board game, has sued to shut down the wildly popular knockoff on Facebook called Scrabulous.
Hasbro on Thursday filed a copyright and trademark lawsuit in New York against the creators of the ad-supported Scrabulous application, which boasts an astonishing half-million daily users.
Mark Blecher, general manager for Hasbro Digital Media, said in a telephone interview that his employer's goal is to promote its authentic, legitimate Facebook application. "This is theft of intellectual property," Blecher said of Scrabulous. "It's really no different from when the recording industry faced the issue of folks posting music on sites like Napster and letting them copy it for free."
Blecher said Hasbro waited, "in deference to the fans," until it launched its official Scrabble Facebook app earlier this month. That was created by Electronic Arts and is used by a mere 8,900 daily users.
The lawsuit names as defendants Kolkata, India-based RJ Softwares, its CEO Rajat Agarwalla, and Jayant Agarwalla, who launched Scrabulous two years ago. It asks the court to yank the Scrabulous game from Facebook, disable the Scrabulous.com domain name, and grant Hasbro damages and attorneys fees.
It's unclear how the lawsuit will proceed; the defendants could simply ignore it if they have no U.S. assets to seize, and aren't worried about Indian courts enforcing a default judgment. RJ Softwares did not respond to queries on Thursday.
Hasbro combined the lawsuit with a notice to Facebook invoking the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's takedown provision. As of 11:30 p.m. PT on Thursday, the Scrabulous application was still listed on Facebook.
Facebook representative Brandee Barker replied with this statement, which is succinct enough to include here verbatim:
We believe that games are an important part of the social experience on Facebook and have been impressed by the creativity and innovation of the games that developers--both large and small--have built on Facebook Platform. In the case of disputes such as the one involving Scrabulous, our hope and expectation is that the parties can resolve their disagreements in a manner that satisfies the parties, that continues to offer a great experience to gamers and that doesn't discourage other developers from using Platform to share their creativity and test new ideas. Over the past year, Facebook has tried to use its status as neutral platform provider to help the parties come to an amicable agreement. We're disappointed that Hasbro has sought to draw us into their dispute; nevertheless, we have forwarded their concerns to Scrabulous and requested their appropriate response.
Declan McCullagh, CNET News' chief political correspondent, chronicles the intersection of politics and technology. He has covered politics, technology, and Washington, D.C., for more than a decade, which has turned him into an iconoclast and a skeptic of anyone who says, "We oughta have a new federal law against this." E-mail Declan. 
If anything they promoted the game!
Way to wait TWO years before doing something Hasbro.
The entire world knows EA frequently pushes the development cycle of their projects, creating a sub-par product as quickly as possible. Sooner or later they will learn the lesson, but not until fools (the people who pay for EA crap) get a clue.
Hasbro, and Mark Blecher, you're full of it.
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L A M E
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nuf said ;)
I would guess if this were a US company, the case would be clear. The name is similar to the trademark and, while the game is some 70 years old, the US still recognizes the copyright. As such, the game would likely be found to be a copyright infringement. (That said, I think that Hasbro is a bit silly comparing this to on-line music piracy. It is really quite different, where the defendant produced an original work. It is certainly not merely a duplication of something purchased and given away for free.)
Does anybody know if they are violating any laws in India?
What are we talking about? Trademark? Copyright?
If you mean copyright, there is no copyright in board games. Maybe on the exact layout of the paper instructions, but not on the game itself. That's why you see monopoly-like games around.
Trademark? They may be similar but I do notthink any reasonable person would confuse Scrabble (R) with Scrabulous. They are similar, but diferent enough.
I was referring to laws, though I recognize enforcement in any country is a different matter. There are international agreements on copyright, but the US has a more than generous span of time. I'm honestly not sure what the international agreement is, but like others here, I am amazed that the whole world would agree that 70 years is acceptable.
Paul
Day 1(someone told them about Scrabulous) - "pfft...Facebook....whats that?"
Day 175 - "hmm....looks like they like the game. Lets talk to the makers"
Day 205 - "they want how much?....no way"
Day 210 - "lets talk with our lawyers"
Day 210 - "we're suing!"
Day 220 - "hmm...looks like our user base is pathetic compared to theirs"
Day 220 - "we're suing"
Day 225 - "Once we win, we should send a 'Thank You' note to Agarwalla's mentioning if it weren't for them, we still be nobodys and non-forward thinkers"
BTW, copywrite law continues to be modified in the US. The original term of protection, when the game was first produced, was about 15 years. The game developers new this limitation when the created the IP in the first place, so thay aren't exactly being ripped off here. Their original decision to develop was made with only 15 years of protection.
Now, riding of the backs of multiple extentions to the protected time frame, industries are crying foul, 50 years after they should have lost their protection. It begs the question, then, just how fair these extention are and should they provide protection vfor material that was created before the extentions where created.
oh, and "ggg ssss": No, there are no wooden pieces. It's freakin digital. However the game rules and board design are clearly based on Scrabble®'s original design, and designs can be patented.
- by paulej August 1, 2008 3:43 PM PDT
- phoenix617,
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(22 Comments)Yeah, but the game is really old. And, they don't call it Scrabble. So, there cannot be an issue with patents or trademarks. The only law they might be breaking is copyright. And, this is why I'm curious to know what the copyright laws are in India. The US has an excessively long copyright period, but not all countries recognize copyrights for so long. If India only recognizes copyright for 50 years, then I would assume they are breaking no Indian or international laws.