Hasbro finally sues Scrabulous creators

Facebook app battle gets legal

25 July 2008 12:41 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Less than 2 weeks after the official version of Scrabble for Facebook launched Stateside, Hasbro, who owns the copyright to the boardgame, is suing the creators of the "Scrabulous" Faceook application.

The timing is not a coincidence. Although Hasbro has previously asked Facebook to take the app down, Mark Blecher, general manager for digital media and gaming at Hasbro, said they have waited until now to file a lawsuit to ensure that Scrabble fans had a legal option first.

Scrabulous apparently attracts around half a million users on a daily basis, but perhaps not for much longer as Hasbro has again requested Facebook removes the programme.

Hasbro said in its lawsuit that Scrabulous violates its copyright and trademarks and - as well as blocking the game - wants to try and collect unspecified damages.

The lawsuit, filed in New York, named as defendants Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, the brothers in Calcutta, India, who created the program, along with their web design company, RJ Softwares.