Game over? Scrabble takes on Scrabulous

The legions of Facebook users who try to outsmart their friends with better, longer, and higher scoring words using the site's online version of Scrabble may soon be in need of another time-waster.

Hasbro, which makes Scrabble, has written to Facebook asking that it take the application down.

According to a report in Fortune, Hasbro has said that the game - called Scrabulous - is in breach of its own trademark, and is therefore unreasonably tapping into revenues that are rightfully its own.

Scrabulous, which was created by two Indian brothers, lets Facebook users play games against one another online, often over long periods of time.

The game began life as a standalone website in 2006, but has developed a huge following since launching as an application on Facebook in June last year. More than 41,000 people now play it in the UK each month, according Nielsen/Netratings, and other estimates put the number of global users at 2.3 million.

Scrabulous's creators - Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla, from Calcutta - have never made any secret of their game's debt to Scrabble. On the Scrabulous website, the 'rules' section links directly to Wikipedia's explanation of the rules of Hasbro's game.

The brothers say they had the idea for their site when another online game similar to Scrabble, Quadplex, started charging its users to play. They now earn them more than $25,000 a month from the game in advertising.

Lawyers said that, should it decide to bring legal action against Facebook, Hasbro would have a strong case. "They'd have to show that there is some risk the average person would likely confuse Scrabble and Scrabulous, and my instinct is there would be such confusion," Jeremy Hertzog, head of the intellectual property group at Mishcon de Reya, the London law firm, said.

"The names are similar, the game has the same rules. The damages Facebook may have to pay could be quite extensive."

Facebook has said it does not comment on legal matters, and a spokesman for Hasbro was not immediately available.

So far the application - and the Scrabulous website - are still accessible, suggesting the two parties may come to an agreement. "We're trying to work out some kind of deal," Jayant Agarwalla told Fortune.

Scrabulous addicts have meanwhile have meanwhile begun rallying others to their cause, setting up a Facebook group called 'Save Scrabulous on Facebook'.

Comments

[eMerly]

If Scrabble was smart they would team up with Scrabulous and capitalize on it's success to renew interest in the board game.

I only joined Facebook so that I could play Scrabulous, and now that I like it, I am ten times more likely to buy the real Scrabble game to play in real time.

Take away Scrabulous, and people will once again forget all about the original.

[Bob]

If Hasbro was smart, they would've been a leader in the online game industry.

But Scrabulous is copyright theft - but I wonder how the game could be copyrighted after so many years.

[Ravi Gupta]

Pac Man was removed from facebook because it was not authorised. Too bad the intelectual property holders and the people who use them without permission often can't come to a mutually beneficial agreement. I hope Scrabble can come to an agreement with Scrabulous where both of them, the advertisers and us all win.

[Nick]

I agree with 'emerly'. Scrabulous allows players to play over extended periods of time as a bit of fun during breaks at work. When people have enough time off during their holidays or at weekends people who play scrabulous are much more likely to buy and play scrabble than those in the population not playing scrabulous. Two people in my group of friends did exactly that this christmas as a result of playing scrabulous. Hasbro should see the long term benefits rather than focusing on the cash gained from an immediate lawsuit.

[Jonathan]

I have become a massive fan of Scrabble thanks to scrabulous - buying the travel version of the game and a video game version. I think Scrabble should have nothing but thanks for srabulous!

[Luke]

It's not like I've ever thought, "gee, look, it's a Scrabble game on Facebook, now I'm not going to have to go out and buy the board game!" As a matter of fact, it's made me decide that I'm going to buy another Scrabble game the next time I go shopping. If anything, Scrabulous is *good* for Scrabble sales.

I know many people who've learned about the existence of Scrabble via the game. The only people I know who knew and/or played it in the past were super geeky (like me).

That said, I believe that should Hasbro not enforce it's intellectual property rights, it risks losing them altogether. I think it would be very beneficial to all parties if they could work out a reasonably-priced licensing arrangement. However, my gut tells me that greedy lawyers who think that Hasbro deserves some huge windfall from this (other than the increase in Scrabble sales) will kill the deal thinking that Hasbro will go it alone (they won't), thus they will have killed the goose that laid the golden egg.

[Mike]

If you liked Scrabulous, you should try this game:
http://www.lalena.com/Games/DailyScroggle.aspx

[hauksdottir]

Emerly said: 'I only joined Facebook so that I could play Scrabulous, and now that I like it, I am ten times more likely to buy the real Scrabble game to play in real time.'

Sooooo, has Emerly actually bought Scrabble? Or is s/he simply excusing continuing copyright theft with a thin veneer of suggested possible future intention? Ten times zero is still zero!

Scrabble is not that expensive as a board game, especially when you consider the cost of a movie ticket. It comes in various sizes and qualities (I prefer wood pieces). eBay has a thousand listings for Scrabble (some starting at a dollar), so you can find something at any price point, and have a real game.

As for those Indian programmers? They are no better than horse thieves or water thieves or car thieves. They are taking what is clearly not theirs and profiting by it. Arrogant puppies!

I hope that Hasbro doesn't deal with them, because they are not trustworthy. If they were honest, they would have approached the company directly instead of waiting to get caught.

And I hope that the guys who run Facebook get nailed to the wall, and forced to cough up their stolen revenues. Surely somebody in their legal department would have looked at the rules linking to the original game and yelped at the blatant piracy.

[Angela]

I never really played Scrabble growing up (except for in German class in high school... but German Scrabble isn't quite the same), but I recently started playing Scrabulous, and I love it! I was planning on going out and buying Scrabble as a result.

It does seem like it would be good for business for the Scrabble people. But I suppose they have to defend their copyright.

[stuart]

Those who are saying that Hasbro should capitalize on the success of Scrabulous may be unaware of the fact that this is not the first time Hasbro has taken such action. There was another online scrabble site, eScrabble, that was taken down a few years ago after a Hasbro C&D:

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/05/03/22/0149222.shtml

[Luke]

Despite raising the profile of the original board game, the fact remains that this is essentially theft of intellectual property.

While I agree the makers of Scrabble would be wise to make a deal with Facebook, it's overly simplistic to suggest that Facebook be allowed to continue hosting the game purely for the associated advertising benefits to Mattel etc.

Doubtless the same people would argue that illegal music download sites are great, as they encourage sales of actual CDs. Sure they do ;-)

[Evan]

Likeliest scenario would be that Hasbro and Facebook settle, with Facebook coughing up major $$$ in backdated royalties, and agreeing to pay Hasbro a generous percentage of their Scrabulous-related revenues going forward. I wouldn't even be surprised if they change the name to Scrabble Online or something, to further drive players to buy the boardgame version.

[Blackstone]

The owners of Scrabble are not alleging copyright theft, but infringment of trademark. It is not a clear-cut case of copyright theft. You cannot copyright the rules of a game.

[Just Some Guy]

For all those people who are like "Hasbro should team up with Facebook, blah, blah, blah", try reading the article.

This notice served by Hasbro is the first step in that process. If Facebook admits its an infringement, then they will start working together. Hasbro just wants to legitimize their claims.

[Jane Knight]

So why have Scrabble not launched their own online version? Come on guys this is a revenue stream! Say the programming costs and do a deal.

[Len Hodgeman]

Hasbro did offer an email version of Scrabble which was quite popular several years ago. They had a log of upset customers when the dropepd support for the game since it relied on the emails passing through a server which they had set up. They also have successfully quashed any attempts to come anywhere near replicating that game.

When you buy a great product that eminently fulfills your needs and it is withdrawn from the market, it is human nature to try to find a new product that fulfills the same needs.

When the laws prohibit the consumer from getting products that they want and that the 'big guys' refuse to give them, the laws are wrong.

Civil disobedience (i.e. making your own product or buying an illegal one) is the only rational choice when the lawmaking process is so heavily weighted in favor of the corporations.

[Strikemaster2000]

For Facebook, the solution is quite easy -- all the advertising revenue that normally would be sent to the Indian brothers, gets sent to Hasbro.

Perfectly legitimate request for Hasbro to make.

If the brothers think that this is unfair, let them take hasbro to court to prove that this is an original game. Wait! Doesn't the game include a link to Wikipedia that gives the HASBRO rules. Whoops!

[Chert]

If you enjoy scrabble / scraboulus you would very likely enjoy Wordfare! by Pretty Fun games.

And it doesn't violate any copyrights. It has been called the most innovative game since scrabble..

-Chert

http://www.traderhut.com/Show.aspx?id=14&s=typepad

[Sue, North Wales]

Scrabble do a version of their game for mobile phones but it isn't very good, the dictionary seems to not allow some very common words. Don't know why they don't do their own updated on line version.

[David Stachon]

The people at Hasboro need to read Wikinomics. Hasboro's actions on this matter could make and break them. Instead of focussing on the negative, they should embrace this as an amazing opportuntity where everyone could benefit.

[haha]

good job.. if those brothers wanted to be legit they would've at least paid Hasbro something, but they didn't! which leads to them being greedy.. $25,000 a month and nothing to Hasbro, wouldn't you be pissed off if it was your pockets they taking from?

some of these app makers are doing is trying to cash in on others ideas, Identity Theft definately, i believe Hasbro should make an example of these dudes and take them to court.

If you want to make an App facebook or otherwise you best know your law, quit being ignorant, Hasbro don't need them to make an App, Hasbro just needs to make their own.

[Darren Summers]

I only log on to Facebook to play Scrabulous to be honest and it has renewwed my love for Scrabble so much I tried to buy a board but Toys-R-Us had sold out.

Another example of Scrabulous rejuvenating Scrabble?

(or maybe it was just the pink version I wanted had a limited run!)