http://www.scrabulous.com

I belong to a different Scrabulous that doesn't involve Facebook, at www.scrabulous.com. are they run by the same people?

I am an avid scrabulous player on facebook. Here is the thing that I'm not happy about. I own the deluxe version of scrabble, and I play it often. But there is a huge difference. The ease in which I can be playing five scrabble games on facebook using scrabulous, with five friends, simply cannot be matched with the take-home version of the original. I can play during down time at work, or the few minutes I have before going out for the night. It doesn't require me to be present for hours, but only minutes at a time. I open the app, make a move and move on the next game. I still love a game night where friends can sit around playing with wooden tiles and a swiveling board, but I play scrabulous because I love scrabble and especially love the convenience of the game. I think it is absurd that Hasbro and Mattel would sue because having immeasurable time between turns and playing the game in "real life" could not be more different. They're both fantastic ways to play the same game!

Scrabulous.com and the facebook application are the same. There is also a site called the internet scrabble club (isc.com, I believe) where you can download and application that allows you to sign in and search for different game variants (like the amount of time, and challenge rules). Both are good sites for scrabble.

It's like looking out the window and there's someone weeding your garden.

You could offer a drink or let the dogs out.

I guess we know what kinds of neighbors Hasbro and Mattel are.

I have been playing Scrabble on Scrabulous.com for at least a year but when it showed up on Facebook, that really upped the ante. I really don't go on Facebook for anything else.

Look, I'm not a fan of perpetual copyright, but its around. It's pretty obvious that Scrabulous is a rip off of scrabble. I'll let a court decide if its a legal rip off, but for a guy who gets paid to produce content it never ceases to amaze me how Farhad thinks content should be free. Are you lobbying Salon to get rid of its premium, which I subscribe to, site or day passes?

Should Hasbro and Mattel come out with a Facebook scrabble app? Definitely. That someone did it before them means they have a product that other people want to get a piece of, not that they shouldn't stop people from appropriating it.

I wonder how many of Facebooks apps are rip offs. Oregon Trail and Smarter Mind probably are. Looks like Facebook is using the 'let other people steal content for us' model that's worked so well for YouTube.

BTW I use and love Scrabulous. Hasbro and Mattel need to port their computer scrabble versions to Facebook as soon as they can.

Farhad, you linked my letter! Good on you for having a sense of humor.

I think I might even go play Scrabulous, but at first glance, the name itself indicates that the creators knew all along that they were ripping off Scrabble.

I think Hasbro owns virtually all toy stuff now. Parker Brothers, for example, is now Hasbro, IIRC.

I very much enjoy scrabulous, and it sucked me back into the hard copy. Hasbro should settle (in the legal sense) for some free advertising on the various webpages and rake it in. Killing it just lowers their profile.

I hope the point is to build a case that they are owed something by scrabulous (which the most definitely are) and then to keep it going collaboratively.

... isn't the same thing as seeking punitive damages. That would, indeed, cause some sort of backlash.

I think it's probably more likely that the scrabulous creators assumed that something that their grandparents played must be in the public domain.

I had some friends some years back who foolishly named a restaurant "The Tabasco Grill". Big mistake, that.

It should also be pointed out that Scrabble is just about the simplest game in the universe, and Scrabulous couldn't possibly represent a huge development investment for its creators.

True confession - I am an IP lawyer. disclaimer - this is not legal advice.

A few pokes on wikipedia and it appears that the inventor of scrabble died in 1993, hence copyright over the game won't expire in the US until 2063 - unless it already has for various reasons.

a few more pokes show that the trademark is still live.

patent protection is long gone.

So, yes, hasbro does have protectable IP.

On the other hand, I always ask clients if it's time to let the dogs out or if there is a way to make a profit from cooperation. Most of these things are settled or abandoned anyway. Might as well start down that path before paying tens of thousands to get a proper lawsuit off the ground.

Hasbro and Mattel would be nuts to shut down Scrabulous -- it's fabulous! Do a deal, boys, and share the wealth. It's a great online game and has gotten me more into physical Scrabble than ever. They should do a deal and post the game on their sites and everyone could sell ads and we could buy the stuff they advertise and it will all be wonderful!!

Hasbro and Mattel bring the trademark, the game itself, and generations of happy user, to the table.

The Scrabulous guys bring a very small amount of tech and what appears to be some good will and a small user base to the table.

I'd rather be Hasbro and Mattel in that exchange. If they want to allow an online version of Scrabble, they should write it themselves.

If they really don't want the risk and pain of developing it themselves, they should buy Scrabulous outright (and we're not talking a lot of money here) and rebrand it, but Hasbro has near-infinite resources to do whatever it takes so they have a clean and simple product.