NEW YORK—Facebook unplugged the controversial and hugely popular “Scrabulous” application across all its international sites except India, possibly bringing to an end a controversial issue surrounding the game that began a month ago.
Users across the world reported getting “this application is not available to you” and other similar error messages when trying to access the game.
U.S. and Canadian users could not use “Scrabulous” after Hasbro, which owns the right to the “Scrabble” game in North America, sued Scrabulous creators Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla and their Indian software and services company on July 25, 2008.
The brothers said that they voluntarily disabled access to the games in North America after the lawsuit to appease Hasbro, but the international blackout is believed to be Facebook’s decision. Facebook is believed to have taken down the game after receiving a takedown notice from Mattel this month. Mattel owns the rights to Scrabble in close to 120 countries, including India.
Still Available in India for Now
Indian users are still able to access Scrabulous, despite the Mattel notice to Facebook. It is believed Facebook may be leaving the application up in the country till the high court, where Mattel has filed a lawsuit, makes a decision. In a statement e-mailed to the “Inside Facebook” blog and other media, Jayant Agarwalla said, “Mattel itself had approached the Indian Courts in February 2008, seeking an order for taking down Scrabulous from Facebook and other servers. The Hon’ble High Court has reserved judgment in this matter after hearing both parties.”
In the initial lawsuit, Hasbro had complained that the Scrabulous application was a “clear and blatant” of Scrabble, and that the names for both were “confusingly similar.”
After “Scrabulous” became immensely popular on Facebook, Electronic Arts launched its version called “Scrabble” on July 8th of this year. Electronic Arts’ version of the game is licensed under a yearly contract with Hasbro in the United States, unlike the “Scrabulous” application. The game is only available to Facebook users in the U.S. and Canada.
Meanwhile, the Agarwallas have launched a new version of the game called “Wordscraper” on Facebook. Though similar to Scrabble, it is different from the game on several counts, such as visual appearance and how points are earned.
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