NewsDude
07-29-2008, 06:20 PM
In response to demands from game publisher Hasbro, Facebook has disabled the Scrabble-like game Scrabulous on its U.S. and Canadian Web sites.
Hasbro sent Facebook a notification of copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act last week. Users who attempt to access Scrabulous will get a message that says, "Scrabulous is disabled for U.S. and Canadian users until further notice. If you would like to stay informed about developments in this matter, please click here."
Click that link and you get a form from the creators of Scrabulous asking for your e-mail address. Scrabulous is still accessible in other nations and the Scrabulous.com Web site is still operating.
Hasbro Hits Back
Hasbro also filed a lawsuit against Scrabulous last Thursday, alleging the game infringes on the company's Scrabble intellectual-property rights. The suit, filed in the Southern District of New York, names Scrabulous creators Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla and India-based RJ Softwares as the defendants.
"Hasbro has an obligation to act appropriately against infringement of our intellectual properties," said Barry Nagler, Hasbro's general counsel. "We view the Scrabulous application as clear and blatant infringement of our Scrabble intellectual property, and we are pursuing this legal action in accordance with the interests of our shareholders, and the integrity of the Scrabble brand."
Facebook first introduced Scrabulous in 2005 and the game has grown popular over the years. Hasbro was quiet about the knockoff -- until it developed its own Scrabble application for Facebook. Then Hasbro dropped the legal hammer. Facebook could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit, but a spokesperson told The New York Times that the popular social-networking site intends to maintain the neutrality of its platform.
Will Hasbro Get Global Justice?
Charles S. Baker, an intellectual-property attorney at the law firm of Porter & Hedges, doesn't expect the Hasbro-Scrabulous battle to be a...
More... (http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61028)
Hasbro sent Facebook a notification of copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act last week. Users who attempt to access Scrabulous will get a message that says, "Scrabulous is disabled for U.S. and Canadian users until further notice. If you would like to stay informed about developments in this matter, please click here."
Click that link and you get a form from the creators of Scrabulous asking for your e-mail address. Scrabulous is still accessible in other nations and the Scrabulous.com Web site is still operating.
Hasbro Hits Back
Hasbro also filed a lawsuit against Scrabulous last Thursday, alleging the game infringes on the company's Scrabble intellectual-property rights. The suit, filed in the Southern District of New York, names Scrabulous creators Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla and India-based RJ Softwares as the defendants.
"Hasbro has an obligation to act appropriately against infringement of our intellectual properties," said Barry Nagler, Hasbro's general counsel. "We view the Scrabulous application as clear and blatant infringement of our Scrabble intellectual property, and we are pursuing this legal action in accordance with the interests of our shareholders, and the integrity of the Scrabble brand."
Facebook first introduced Scrabulous in 2005 and the game has grown popular over the years. Hasbro was quiet about the knockoff -- until it developed its own Scrabble application for Facebook. Then Hasbro dropped the legal hammer. Facebook could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit, but a spokesperson told The New York Times that the popular social-networking site intends to maintain the neutrality of its platform.
Will Hasbro Get Global Justice?
Charles S. Baker, an intellectual-property attorney at the law firm of Porter & Hedges, doesn't expect the Hasbro-Scrabulous battle to be a...
More... (http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61028)