Online Scrabble knockoff suspended on Facebook
3:17 PM Tue, Jul 29, 2008 | Permalink
Email
 |
 |
Projo 7 to 7 News BlogTaking the news pulse of Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts, by Providence Journal and projo.com staff, from 7 to 7, every business day |
|
Get the 7 to 7 on your mobile at www.projo.com. Twitter: projo | RSS | Email alerts
« Greenberg case witness: 'Boat went right over that child' |
Main
| Mass. vote opens door to out-of-state gay marriages »
NEW YORK -- The creators of a Scrabble knockoff responsible for countless hours at the online hangout Facebook suspended their word game Tuesday after being hit with a lawsuit, disappointing fans who logged on expecting to make their next moves. Pawtucket-based Hasbro Inc., which owns the North American rights to the word game, last week sued the brothers in Calcutta, India, who created the Scrabulous program. Separately, Hasbro asked Facebook to block the program, something the site resisted despite risks of losing immunity protection from copyright lawsuits. In a statement, creators Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla said they agreed to block Scrabulous in the United States and Canada in deference to Facebook's concerns, while continuing to pursue their legal defense. Rajat Agarwalla, describing the measures as "unfortunate," declined further comment. -- The Associated Press Facebook said the Agarwalla brothers, not the company, made the decision. Earlier this month, video game maker Electronic Arts Inc. released an official version for American and Canadian Facebook users under a licensing deal with Hasbro. But the authorized Scrabble has been attracting only 15,000 daily users, compared with some half-million for Scrabulous. After the EA release, Hasbro sued the Agarwalla brothers and their company in U.S. District Court in New York, accusing them of violating Hasbro's copyright and trademarks. The lawsuit seeks an end to Scrabulous and unspecified damages. Facebook users who tried to access Scrabulous on Tuesday were simply told the game was disabled "until further notice," and many Facebook users updated their one-line status messages on the site to mourn the suspension. The game continues to work at the developers' Web site, Scrabulous.com, but users must sign up and start games afresh. 
CommentsLeave a commentPlease be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish. |
Tags 
New comments
New photos
New posts
Projo blogs
Archives
As is typical with these "revered" overseas programmers, all they can do is mimic and elaborate. They simply aren't capable of innovation or creation. Yet our jobs go over there only due to the fact they work for rupees. I hope they sue the crud out of the Agarwall brothers to the tune of a triple word score.
Report Abuse