Once again Facebook, the world’s leading social networking service, finds itself back in the news; only this time it's not for suing a German imitation or lauding its future evolution, but rather because games maker Hasbro is on the attack concerning one of Facebook’s most popular applications.
Facebook and Scrabulous creators targeted by Hasbro. Image: BobbyProm/Flickr.
More pointedly, renowned American toys and games company Hasbro is suing two Indian brothers for copyright infringement regarding their hit Web game Scrabulous, which has found massive traction through Facebook and bears more than a passing resemblance to Hasbro’s classic board game Scrabble.
Boasting more than 500,000 regular players through Facebook, Scrabulous offers up the same board layout as Scrabble while also including the same amount of tiles and even following the same set of rules as the 60-year-old family favourite -- all of which has now landed founders and commerce graduates Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla in legal hot water.
Beyond targeting the two brothers, Rhode Island-based Hasbro has also approached Facebook and requested that the social network remove Scrabulous as an accessible application, claiming that the game violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and infringes on the company’s intellectual property.
“Hasbro has an obligation to act appropriately against infringement of our intellectual properties,” commented Barry Nagler, Hasbro’s general counsel, regarding the issue. “We view the Scrabulous application as clear and blatant infringement of our Scrabble intellectual property, and we are pursuing this legal action in accordance with the interests of our shareholders, and the integrity of the Scrabble brand.”
Hasbro has filed its complaint against Scrabulous and the Agarwalla-owned RJ Software with the Southern District of New York. It’s worth noting that Scrabulous was first created at the tail end of 2005 before arriving on Facebook in 2007. Hasbro’s legal move comes after its own Facebook version of the official Scrabble, which is licensed through third-party games publisher EA, has failed to secure more than 8,000 regular players.
The Financial Times reports that Hasbro is seeking unspecified monetary damages against RJ Software and is requesting that the court prevents the use of the name “Scrabulous”.
In a somewhat naive attempt to stave off Hasbro’s attack against Scrabulous, high school student Venkat Koduru has started a “Save Scrabulous” application on Facebook, asking players to add their names to a petition and e-mail Hasbro directly. It presently carries just 20 members.
Scrabulous remains available through Facebook at time of publication.
Neither RJ Software nor Facebook have offered official comment on Hasbro’s lawsuit.
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FredJul 26th, 2008 - 13:03:10
Proofread much?
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FredJul 26th, 2008 - 13:03:10
Proofread much?
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