Hasbro sues the makers of Scrabulous. On the plus side, you’ll never have a reason to use Facebook ever again!
I have to agree with this writer: Hasbro has missed an opportunity here. If they aren’t providing an online version of Scrabble, someone’s going to fill the void. All those users = pent-up demand. Figure it out.
Furthermore, I doubt that Scrabulous deterred many people from buying a real copy of the game. If anything, it made Scrabble bigger than ever. Hasbro ought to have employed the game designers, had a grerat version of Scrabble ready-made, and collected the ad revenue. Maybe even made extra features for paid subscribers. Now, who knows if they’ll shut it down like they did eScrabble, without providing an online alternative.
The games are still up for now — better finish them fast, or conveniently forget them if you’re losing.
16 January 2008 at 1:37 pm
I can’t believe that they aren’t going to try to make money off it! They should just ask for a chunk of the profits, after all the guys did create the program.
And you’re right I never would have had the urge to buy a scrabble board before.
Oh god I hope they don’t shut it down. But I still love facebook, it’s my window into everyones lives.
And don’t you dare stall so no one wins or loses our game! I’m going for three in a row this time.
17 January 2008 at 4:27 pm
What a pile of crap everyone one I know has Scrabble game in their game collection its an old standby same as Monopoly or Clue.I play Scrabulous almost daily as a matter of fact a Dear friend and Scrabble opponent in New Hampshire just purchased the Hasbro game for her daughters Christmas present as a direct result of On-line Scrabble experience. Hasbro is out to lunch on this one.
17 January 2008 at 4:37 pm
What a pile of crap they at best should possibly sue for small royalty. Are they blind or just ignorant. Scrabble ia an old standby to most of us just like Monopoly and Clue the Scrabbulous site is opening new windows of opportunity for Scrabble sales. As a direct result of the site a dear friend and opponent in New Hampshire just purchased Scrabble for her daughter as Christmas present.
18 January 2008 at 6:14 am
Scrabulous is the best thing that ever happened on the Internet – and I have purchased a new Scrabble game because of it! Hasbro should be thanking the creators of Scrabulous for awakening interest in the game – this could provide a real boost to Scrabble sales!
21 January 2008 at 9:08 pm
Email Hasbro here – and tell them what lunatics they are being!
9 February 2008 at 8:16 am
Scraboulous put a TradeMark to the name, Scrabble is a REGISTERED trade mark, and therefore is covered by copyright laws.
Scrabble in its newest form has been under copyright laws since 1952. If Hasbro had wanted to put it on the internet they would have done so by now!
They have shut down a few online scrabble sites before. I cannot quote them off hand, but I know that there were a couple around in the past.
So why should they be hiring the people who put a trademark to Scrabulous, it being an obvious copy of scrabble and all?
It’s been around since the 50’s under hasbro’s name, so they have every right to sue them. Especially when they politely asked them to take it off the facebook site to begin with. It could have all been avoided.
Point is, they should have listened and the makers brought it about themselves.
11 February 2008 at 9:23 am
Sorry, I disagree. Hasbro have to be flexible in an age where marketing is mutating at a frightening rate. Think about it – in the last ten years, the way music is bought, sold and promoted has altered to the point of being unrecognisable, and that’s largely down to the rise of the MP3 and has been driven by illegal and unsanctioned activity. Similarly, if manufacturers can’t provide online versions of games that people genuinely enjoy playing, others will move in and fill the gap in the market.
In other words – you snooze, you lose. And if they put Scrabulous out of business, something else will come along. Hasbro need to wise up.
11 February 2008 at 10:08 am
I agree with both of you.
Hasbro has a perfect right to sue the makers of Scrabulous — they’re selling something that isn’t their concept.
But Hasbro is foolish to knock back the opportunity for an online Scrabble presence. Sometimes insisting on your rights isn’t as good a move as making money while still protecting your brand. Hasbro could be doing this, but they’re not.
But it’s probably more complex than this. Hasbro owns Scrabble in the US and Canada, but Mattel owns it everywhere else, so going online worldwide may involve copyright issues that I’m completely unaware of.
29 July 2008 at 5:23 pm
There IS actually an online registered Scrabble game on Pogo. They did get the rights to it, so it’s not going anywhere soon and I’m pretty sure it’s free. It’s not Facebook, but it’s another alternative.
30 July 2008 at 11:17 pm
I hope scrabulous fights the lawsuit. This is another example of a company trying to indefinitely extend its patent under the guise of copywrite. the scrabulous board does not substatiantially copy any of the artwork of the scrabble board. The number of squares, location of doubles and triples, and starting spot are all functional, and therefore should not be covered by copywrite.
Lego tried to trademark the shape of their blocks a few years back, and the courts decided that the shape was entirely functional, and therefore could not be a trademark.
Patents provide legal protection for ideas. You get 20 years, and that’s it.
2 August 2008 at 3:21 am
I had pretty much forgotten about the game Scrabble and had no interest really to play it. When Scrabulous came out, it has given me a new enthusiasm to want to play Scrabble.
28 July 2009 at 2:14 am
They dropped the lawsuit,
Steven
http://scrabblecheat.com