Hasbro Sues Scrabulous Makers

  • July 25, 2008
Hasbro has filed a lawsuit against the makers of Scrabble knockoff Scrabulous, a Facebook application that lets members play a version of the word game online. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal district court in New York, alleges that the game violates Hasbro's copyright and trademark.

Hasbro also reportedly has requested that Facebook take down the popular application, according to The New York Times. As of Thursday evening, the game was still available on the social networking site, where it draws more than 500,000 daily users.

Hasbro recently released its own online version of Scrabble for Facebook, but the application has drawn fewer than 10,000 U.S. and Canadian users.

Facebook said in a statement that it hopes the parties can resolve the disagreement "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 Platform to share their creativity and test new ideas."

The company said it has tried to use its status as neutral platform provider to help the parties come to an amicable agreement. "We're disappointed that Hasbro has sought to draw us into their dispute; nevertheless, we have forwarded their concerns to Scrabulous and requested their appropriate response."--Wendy Davis

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