Comments on: Suing Scrabulous: The Game Everyone Gets to Lose! http://gigaom.com/2008/08/26/suing-scrabulous-the-game-everyone-gets-to-lose/ Trusted Insights and Conversations on the Next Wave of Technology Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:44:08 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: echovar » Blog Archive » Twitter Scrabble http://gigaom.com/2008/08/26/suing-scrabulous-the-game-everyone-gets-to-lose/#comment-896643 echovar » Blog Archive » Twitter Scrabble Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:54:38 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=18748#comment-896643 <p>[...] Gavin Rude, an english teacher, makes a galant attempt in this PDF. However, given the current politcal climate around online scrabble– Kevin Marks and Brian Oberkirch could be viewed as colluding to play [...]</p> [...] Gavin Rude, an english teacher, makes a galant attempt in this PDF. However, given the current politcal climate around online scrabble– Kevin Marks and Brian Oberkirch could be viewed as colluding to play [...]

]]> By: Robin http://gigaom.com/2008/08/26/suing-scrabulous-the-game-everyone-gets-to-lose/#comment-896409 Robin Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:10:51 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=18748#comment-896409 <p>Scrabulous was a success because it was based on a game that most people were already familiar with (thanks to Mattel/Hasbro's efforts), and because it appeared on Facebook at a time when the most sophisticated 'games' that had been implemented were mindless virals about Zombies and Vampires.</p> <p>How would any game work on Facebook without using the chat and friend network parts of the API? What would be the point?</p> <p>The action benefits Hasbro/Mattel as it gives them a clear run at implementing Scrabble. They will continue to improve the official implementations if there is a commercial impetus to do so. Scrabulous apologists will no doubt crow about official Scrabble drawing fewer players, as if Scrabulous wasn't a fad that briefly capitalised on an uncontested market.</p> Scrabulous was a success because it was based on a game that most people were already familiar with (thanks to Mattel/Hasbro’s efforts), and because it appeared on Facebook at a time when the most sophisticated ‘games’ that had been implemented were mindless virals about Zombies and Vampires.

How would any game work on Facebook without using the chat and friend network parts of the API? What would be the point?

The action benefits Hasbro/Mattel as it gives them a clear run at implementing Scrabble. They will continue to improve the official implementations if there is a commercial impetus to do so. Scrabulous apologists will no doubt crow about official Scrabble drawing fewer players, as if Scrabulous wasn’t a fad that briefly capitalised on an uncontested market.

]]> By: Wagner James Au http://gigaom.com/2008/08/26/suing-scrabulous-the-game-everyone-gets-to-lose/#comment-895998 Wagner James Au Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:16:05 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=18748#comment-895998 <p>Nowhere did I say Hasbro/Mattel's IP rights should be disregarded. My point is that their particular IP enforcement and application strategy doesn't seem to benefit anyone-- not us, not Facebook, not even them. (Hence the image caption.) That's a different issue, especially because Scrabulous was not a huge success simply because it was a knock-off of Scrabble. It was a success because of all the side mechanics and elements like chat and leaderboards etc. which weren't copyright infringing. Were it just a simple Scrabble knock-off without all that additional functionality, it's very doubtful it would have been as popular as it was.</p> Nowhere did I say Hasbro/Mattel’s IP rights should be disregarded. My point is that their particular IP enforcement and application strategy doesn’t seem to benefit anyone– not us, not Facebook, not even them. (Hence the image caption.) That’s a different issue, especially because Scrabulous was not a huge success simply because it was a knock-off of Scrabble. It was a success because of all the side mechanics and elements like chat and leaderboards etc. which weren’t copyright infringing. Were it just a simple Scrabble knock-off without all that additional functionality, it’s very doubtful it would have been as popular as it was.

]]> By: David Mullings http://gigaom.com/2008/08/26/suing-scrabulous-the-game-everyone-gets-to-lose/#comment-895996 David Mullings Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:57:08 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=18748#comment-895996 <p>I agree with all the above - the author needs to show more respect for copyrights, otherwise he is saying that we can all happily copy articles from GigaOm, paste them on our own blog and then ask for sympathy when we get sued for copyright infringement.</p> <p>Yes, the licensing setup is stupid and the two digital licensees should work together on one game so people can compete against each others, but...</p> <p>GigaOm says "Copyright 2001-2008 Giga Omni Media, Inc." at the bottom of every page so you obviously respect copyrights, so respect Hasbro's.</p> I agree with all the above – the author needs to show more respect for copyrights, otherwise he is saying that we can all happily copy articles from GigaOm, paste them on our own blog and then ask for sympathy when we get sued for copyright infringement.

Yes, the licensing setup is stupid and the two digital licensees should work together on one game so people can compete against each others, but…

GigaOm says “Copyright 2001-2008 Giga Omni Media, Inc.” at the bottom of every page so you obviously respect copyrights, so respect Hasbro’s.

]]> By: austinandrew http://gigaom.com/2008/08/26/suing-scrabulous-the-game-everyone-gets-to-lose/#comment-895986 austinandrew Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:11:07 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=18748#comment-895986 <p>I agree with the other commentors. It seems like your piece blames Mattel. Although it sucks that the official version isn't as good as Scrabulous, it's pretty clear that they ripped the game off. IP rights aren't immune to the web.</p> I agree with the other commentors. It seems like your piece blames Mattel. Although it sucks that the official version isn’t as good as Scrabulous, it’s pretty clear that they ripped the game off. IP rights aren’t immune to the web.

]]> By: Erik Schwartz http://gigaom.com/2008/08/26/suing-scrabulous-the-game-everyone-gets-to-lose/#comment-895958 Erik Schwartz Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:41:26 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=18748#comment-895958 <p><i>"the best features in SCRABBLE, like live chat and leaderboards, were originally innovated in Scrabulous"<i></p> <p>Yahoo! Games had live chat and leaderboards in 1998.</p> “the best features in SCRABBLE, like live chat and leaderboards, were originally innovated in Scrabulous”

Yahoo! Games had live chat and leaderboards in 1998.

]]> By: E http://gigaom.com/2008/08/26/suing-scrabulous-the-game-everyone-gets-to-lose/#comment-895889 E Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:56:52 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=18748#comment-895889 <p>I totally agree with Johan. These developers are acting like children - breaking the law, expecting to escape consequences, and acting shocked when a legitimate company won't support their idiocy.</p> <p>Sure, Scrabulous was a fantastic app (despite the fact that you are basically playing against whatever web-based dictionary/scrabble-solver program your friend is using). Sure, everyone loses in this current scenario. I'd also like to watch free unlimited movies on Facebook too and it would be a huge loss if I could, but then couldn't because of legal violations... but that's the same situation that we have here. It's something that shouldn't have existed in the first place.</p> <p>If I were the Argwallas I would have given Scrabulous to Hasbro and leveraged it to get a good development job. Now they are just stuck with a much less interesting game that probably earns $11 a day based on Facebook's phenomenal $0.05 CPMs.</p> <p>Enjoy!</p> I totally agree with Johan. These developers are acting like children – breaking the law, expecting to escape consequences, and acting shocked when a legitimate company won’t support their idiocy.

Sure, Scrabulous was a fantastic app (despite the fact that you are basically playing against whatever web-based dictionary/scrabble-solver program your friend is using). Sure, everyone loses in this current scenario. I’d also like to watch free unlimited movies on Facebook too and it would be a huge loss if I could, but then couldn’t because of legal violations… but that’s the same situation that we have here. It’s something that shouldn’t have existed in the first place.

If I were the Argwallas I would have given Scrabulous to Hasbro and leveraged it to get a good development job. Now they are just stuck with a much less interesting game that probably earns $11 a day based on Facebook’s phenomenal $0.05 CPMs.

Enjoy!

]]> By: Tuyen http://gigaom.com/2008/08/26/suing-scrabulous-the-game-everyone-gets-to-lose/#comment-895875 Tuyen Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:41:37 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=18748#comment-895875 <p>I agree Johan. Though the article wants to paint FB as squashing developers, you have to look on the other side of the coin. Do you want FB to start looking like the Pirate Bay? FB did the right thing in a case of VERY CLEAR copyright infringement. It would be similar to me doing really good covers of all the Beatles songs (under the name Beatabulous), selling a ton of tracks on iTunes, and then complaining when Apple took me down when I got sued by Paul et all.</p> <p>I'm not 100% sure about the details but didn't the developers negotiate with EA/Hasbro to sell the game? If they did, why didn't they sell for basically any price?</p> I agree Johan. Though the article wants to paint FB as squashing developers, you have to look on the other side of the coin. Do you want FB to start looking like the Pirate Bay? FB did the right thing in a case of VERY CLEAR copyright infringement. It would be similar to me doing really good covers of all the Beatles songs (under the name Beatabulous), selling a ton of tracks on iTunes, and then complaining when Apple took me down when I got sued by Paul et all.

I’m not 100% sure about the details but didn’t the developers negotiate with EA/Hasbro to sell the game? If they did, why didn’t they sell for basically any price?

]]> By: Johan http://gigaom.com/2008/08/26/suing-scrabulous-the-game-everyone-gets-to-lose/#comment-895865 Johan Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:24:50 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=18748#comment-895865 <p>This is a pretty naive piece. It's fairly straight forward, save for the shared copyright:</p> <ol> <li>Developers rip off the game and make the FB app.</li> <li>It becomes wildly successful.</li> <li>But since the developers didn't secure the rights, they got in legal hot water.</li> <li>FB, not wanting to be sued for harboring copyright violators, rightfully takes down the app.</li> </ol> <p>What am I missing here? I mean, I agree, the law kind of sucks and probably archaic concerning how long and what rights the copyright owners have, but I mean, these are the laws that we have.</p> <p>If they are really bad, we should change the laws. But to feel sympathy for people who blatantly ripped off the concept and game and then proceeded to make tons of cash off it, without any monetary flow back to the copyright holder, is ridiculous.</p> This is a pretty naive piece. It’s fairly straight forward, save for the shared copyright:

  1. Developers rip off the game and make the FB app.
  2. It becomes wildly successful.
  3. But since the developers didn’t secure the rights, they got in legal hot water.
  4. FB, not wanting to be sued for harboring copyright violators, rightfully takes down the app.

What am I missing here? I mean, I agree, the law kind of sucks and probably archaic concerning how long and what rights the copyright owners have, but I mean, these are the laws that we have.

If they are really bad, we should change the laws. But to feel sympathy for people who blatantly ripped off the concept and game and then proceeded to make tons of cash off it, without any monetary flow back to the copyright holder, is ridiculous.

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