• Scrabulous Spells S-U-E-D for Indian Developers

    Scrabulous Spells S-U-E-D for Indian Developers

    Techtree News Staff, Jul 29, 2008 1320 hrs IST

    The Indian duo behind the successful Scrabulous application on Facebook have been sued by Hasbro

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Developers of the Scrabulous app on Facebook have been sued by Hasbro, which own the rights to Scrabble in North America. Hasbro has also sent a legal notice to Facebook asking them to block the game.

Scrabulous.com was originally launched by brothers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla from India in 2005, and was recently made available as a free "add-on" for Facebook users. Scrabulous on Facebook is played by about half-million users daily, and bears a close resemblance to the word game Scrabble.

Back in January, Hasbro had threatened legal action against Scrabulous developers and Facebook. Now, the company has gone ahead and filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York. However, this suit holds little weight, since Scrabulous lists no assets in the US and a court decision there would need backing by India's legal system to be enforced, reports AFP.

So far Facebook has not blocked the application. In an official statement Facebook said, "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 our platform to share creativity and test new ideas."

Meanwhile Agarwallas have appealed to their fans to remain loyal to Scrabulous. Click here for more.

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Discussion Board
(18) Comments
erdem
,turkey, on Oct 02, 2008 06:26 PM
im scrabble player in turkey.every day i played in scrabulous.but its locked.where i can play.hasbro you are busterd.i wouldnt buy something for yours
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Jude
,Brantford, on Jul 30, 2008 05:44 PM
Hasbro: you are giving yourselves a bad name...you should be promoting your game in this delightful form-foolish, greedy people!
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Sandy Adams
,Creemore, Ontario, Canada, on Jul 30, 2008 05:38 PM
It is not fair that Scrabulous has been blocked!! I am a daily player that feels lost without it. If anything Hasbro should be happy people are playing it and I bet their sales of the board game has gone up. I hope the Agarwallas win!!! Good luck guys! You have lots of fans :)
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Anja
,FL, on Jul 30, 2008 04:23 PM
Hasbro's being unreasonable and just wants a few hundred-thousands of $$ coming into their already bloated pockets. What a shame, Bring Scrabulous back, we love it.
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mari
,NJ, on Jul 30, 2008 04:01 AM
I am not happy. I LOVE Scrabulous. I play it daily with many friends and family. BRING it BACK!
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Barbara MacNeil
,Sydney N.S. Canada, on Jul 29, 2008 07:48 PM
I hope this is resolved soon. I miss playing the game already. Hasbro lighten up, and bring the game back!!
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Hasbro Blows
,WV, on Jul 29, 2008 07:24 PM
Hasbro's being unreasonable and just wants a few hundred-thousands of $$ coming into their already bloated pockets. All that money in the world couldn't pay for better developers....idiots. All this culture of suing whomever they please needs to go.
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Jenny
,Orlando, on Jul 29, 2008 06:18 PM
Bad mistake by Hasbro. I agree that having it online only helps promote the board game. I am extremley disappointed and will consider boycotting Hasbro products.
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Christine
,Baltimore, on Jul 29, 2008 06:09 PM
What a shame! Hasbro sucks. Glad I bought all my Scrabble board games back in the dark ages before Hasbro bought the rights.
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Scrabfan
,Salina, on Jul 29, 2008 06:08 PM
Hasbro is making a foolish move.Scrabulous can only help the popularity of Scrabble. What are they thinking?
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Suburban Martyr
,Atlanta, on Jul 29, 2008 05:59 PM
Scrabble Beta is horrible. Bring back Scrabulous. These boys got it right, Hasbro should just buy the rights.
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Alice
,Sarasota, FL, on Jul 29, 2008 05:56 PM
I just tried to play and it has apparently been blocked by someone...
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Giovanni
,Rutland, VT, on Jul 29, 2008 05:48 PM
Well I added the Scrabble Beta application on Facebook. Its been only an hour and it is already unavilable for maintenance.
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april
,lafayette, in, on Jul 29, 2008 05:40 PM
well it's been blocked :)
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marcia
,tallmadge, oh, on Jul 29, 2008 05:31 PM
it's blocked now!
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Simon Bell
,London, on Jul 29, 2008 04:53 PM
I am in the middle of games with friends in the USA. I'm in Britain. We can still play on Facebook in UK. Scrabble is available but not to play with anyone in the USA. Thanks a milllion!!
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Terry
,Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Jul 29, 2008 04:18 PM
I hope that Hasbro reaches a reasonable settlement with Scrabulous. It's a popular, awsome game that millions on Facebook play daily. They should consider either selling rights or partnering. I know I will be lost with the site down while the legal battle goes on.
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sharanu
,Bangalore, on Jul 29, 2008 01:27 PM
Agarwallas we are with you on this ,americans have a culture of sueing for everything in life and thats reflected by Hasbro ,though i dont use your application i felt the need to say that you are on the right side hence we support
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