Hasbro D-R-O-P-S Facebook Scrabulous Lawsuit

December 16, 2008 -

In July, toymaker Hasbro, which owns the rights to the venerable board game Scrabble, filed suit against the publishers of Scrabulous, a Scrabble knockoff accessible via Facebook.

Scrabulous disappeared immediately, thanks to a DMCA take-down order, and EA quickly launched an officially-licensed Scrabble version on the popular social networking site.

The Associated Press is now reporting that Hasbro has dropped its lawsuit against Calcutta-based Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla, the brothers who created Scrabulous. From the AP story:

Court documents did not specify a reason for the withdrawal of the case.

RJ Softwares, the Agarwalla brothers' company, said in a statement that it has agreed not to use the term "Scrabulous" and has made changes to different versions of the game it created after the lawsuit was filed...

"The agreement provides people in the U.S. and Canada with a choice of different games and also avoids potentially lengthy and costly litigations," the statement said.

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Comments

Re: Hasbro D-R-O-P-S Facebook Scrabulous Lawsuit

Submitted by sheppy on Tue, 12/16/2008 - 12:43.

I can just imagine the conversation that took place.

Hasbro Suit: So, how goes our current lawsuits against nonthreatening things?

Lawyer 1: We have successfully used the DMCA to remove Scrabulous from Facebook.

Lawyer 2: Yes.. however

Lawyer 1: Shut up, Steve!

Hasbro Suit: However?

Lawyer 2: Well, you see... they circumvented the lawsuit by changing the name of their application and now that makes it much harder for us to press the issue.

Lawyer 1: Regardless, we are pushing ahead for a cut of the profits.

Hasbro Suit: Just what ARE the profits?

Lawyer 2: Absolutely nothing sir. It was a free app.

Hasbro Suit: So this games existance could effect us in some way. Right?

Lawyer 1: Absolutely. It interferes with our PC software release of Scrabble Unlimited and it's offer of online play.

Lawyer 2: But those online servers went down a year ago...

Hasbro Suit: So no money, no competeing product, and they are defendable by a name change. Is the sole purpose of this lawsuit just to make us look like assholes?

Lawyer 1: Assholes protecting our Internet Millions, sir.

Hasbro Suit: Drop the suit.

Lawyer 2: At last I can see my wife and kids again....

Lawyer 1: I had them sold to somalian pirates in exchange for safe shipping routes for Monopoly Diamond Deluxe Butter Nougat Edition... sorry.

Wall of Text Simulation- Insert coin to continue.

Re: Hasbro D-R-O-P-S Facebook Scrabulous Lawsuit

Submitted by Father Time on Wed, 12/17/2008 - 17:46.

That's funny man, really funny.

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Re: Hasbro D-R-O-P-S Facebook Scrabulous Lawsuit

Submitted by zel on Tue, 12/16/2008 - 11:09.

i never played it, did they make any changes to board design or gameplay? I can understand why they'd wanna make it but if they basically recreated scrabble rule by rule you also have to understand why hasbro would sue. They should have just tried to talk to them first before throwing lawsuits down though.

I hate the DMCA though, what a bullshit law. anyone remember how someone later proved a sharpie was in violation because it could be used to circumvent the audio CD protection used to prevent CD-ROMs from reading and ripping an audio CD?

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Re: Hasbro D-R-O-P-S Facebook Scrabulous Lawsuit

Submitted by DeepThorn on Tue, 12/16/2008 - 09:30.

it was a BS suit to begin with, though these guys should have been more creative and actually make some essential changes in gameplay. It really isnt that hard.

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Re: Hasbro D-R-O-P-S Facebook Scrabulous Lawsuit

Submitted by Sigma 7 on Wed, 12/17/2008 - 00:05.

The suit had to do with using the trademark, and since Hasbro wants to avoid many Scrabble knockoffs using the scrabble name (rather than doing variations to the name and board such as Literati), they have to persue anyone using their trademark.

It's also not that hard to choose the name "Wordscraper" over "Scrabulous", aside from having to spend time thinking.

Shout box

prh99: Also there is no story in rational and respectful discussion (where you can find it).10/19/2014 - 10:44am

prh99: Well they are probably doing it on Twitter and probably the GG hashtag so any voice reason gets drowned out by idiocy. Also it's far easier to broad brush a group.10/19/2014 - 10:41am

Wonderkarp: dont fool yourself, Technogeek. Remember Mass Effect 3? How about the ferver against Phil Fish?10/19/2014 - 10:18am

MechaTama31: None of which is the fault or responsibility of the people who are not trolling, harassing, threatening, doxxing, etc. So why is their opinion hostage to the people who are?10/19/2014 - 10:06am

Technogeek: If the developer were male there wouldn't have been a "conversation" in the first place.10/19/2014 - 2:27am

Monte: trolls are just at their absolute worst when it comes to women and feminist. You could bet good money that if the developer were male the trolls would be silent and the conversation would actually focus on the journalism.10/18/2014 - 9:18pm

Monte: Papa: Not the first time we've had a journalism scandals before, but the harassment never got close to this level; the difference with this scandal is that feminists are involved. Without the feminist angle, their would be A LOT less harrassment10/18/2014 - 9:15pm

Papa Midnight: Monte: That's honestly rather short-sighted. As has been proven with other persons who have been targeted, if it wasn't Quinn, it would be someone else.10/18/2014 - 6:26pm

Avalongod: I think that's part of what gives an esoteric news story like this real life...it taps into a larger narrative about misogyny in society outside of games.10/18/2014 - 3:29pm

Avalongod: @Monte, well the trolls made death threats that came to police (and media attention). I think this is tapping into a larger issue outside of games about how women are treated in society (like all the "real rape" stuff during the last election)10/18/2014 - 3:28pm

Wonderkarp: Zippy : Havent tried the PS4 controller. might later.10/18/2014 - 2:37pm

Monte: Seirously, If Quinn was not involved and GG was instead about something like the Mordor Marketing contracts, the trolling would have never grown so vile and disgusting. There have been plenty of movements in the past that never sufferred from behavior..10/18/2014 - 1:57pm

Monte: We have seen scandel's before but the trolling has never been as vile as what we see with GG. Trolls usually have such a tiny voice you can barely notice them, but its like moths to a flame whenever femistist are involved.10/18/2014 - 1:53pm

ZippyDSMlee: Wonderkarp: You might be able to if you had a PS4 controller.10/18/2014 - 1:00pm

MaskedPixelante: http://store.steampowered.com/app/327940/ Night Dive starts charging for freeware.10/18/2014 - 12:21pm

Matthew Wilson: the sad thing is there are trolls on both sides of this. people need to stop acting like their side is so pure.10/18/2014 - 12:19pm

MechaTama31: So, only speak out on a scandal that hasn't attracted trolls? I wouldn't hold my breath...10/18/2014 - 10:49am

Monte: I feel like GG just needs to die. The movement is FAR to tainted by hatred and BS for it to be useful for any conversation. Let GG die, and then rally behind the NEXT gaming journalism scandal, and start the conversation fresh.10/18/2014 - 10:33am

quiknkold: and we dont have a Dovakin to call a cease fire10/17/2014 - 7:37pm

quiknkold: The whole thing is Futile. Both sides are so buried deep in their trenchs that there isnt a conversation. Its just Finger Pointing, Name Calling, Doxxing, Threats. there needs to be a serious conversation, and GG isnt it.10/17/2014 - 7:37pm

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