Comments on: Scrabulous Still Hangs in the Balance

By: For Real? No Deal With Scrabulous? - GigaOM

For Real? No Deal With Scrabulous? - GigaOM — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:01:28 +0000

[...] Scrabulous, which is … um…inspired by Scrabble, found itself on the receiving end of a shutdown threat from Mattel and Hasbro, holders of the Scrabble [...]

By: Will RealNetworks Buy Scrabulous? - GigaOM

Will RealNetworks Buy Scrabulous? - GigaOM — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 17:29:54 +0000

[...] The legal troubles of the game cooked up by Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, two brothers living in Calcutta, have been well chronicled, most recently by The New York Times. The game which has about 700,000 daily players brings in about $25,000 in monthly advertising revenues from online advertising. [...]

By: What would (should) become of Scrabulous, the widely popular Facebook app? : Alootechie

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 09:51:33 +0000

[...] will become of Scrabulous? asks GigaOM. Scrabulous is in news for a number of reasons. First, it’s the only Indians-created Facebook app [...]

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 03:37:57 +0000

Just what “rights” does Hasbro own? According to the US Copyright office:

The idea for a game is not protected by copyright. The same is true of the name or title given to the game and of the method or methods for playing it.

Copyright protects only the particular manner of an author’s expression in literary, artistic, or musical form. Copyright protection does not extend to any idea, system, method, device, or trademark material involved in the development, merchandising, or playing of a game. Once a game has been made public, nothing in the copyright law prevents others from developing another game based on similar principles.

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl108.html

By: John

John — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 02:33:59 +0000

Hasbro owns the rights, and that's all that matters. Stop trying to feel sympathetic for two guys who violated these ritghts, most likely unintentionally. Still, the bottom line is, it's not their game, it's not their concept, so it does not belong to them.

By: Don Jones

Don Jones — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 01:09:45 +0000

I imagine Hasbro et al think they can chill Facebook into taking the site down and tie it up in litigation while they develop their own version for MySpace or perhaps put a stop to the litigation in return for Fb using their application.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:46:04 +0000

They have Scrabble game for Palm, but they cost about $14 or more. Unless there is a paid subscription Hasbro won't allow this free version. Unfortunately they have the rights and they can bring it down. I hope the two can come up with games on their own and not have to face these idiots.