News: Hasbro orders Scrabulous removed from Facebook

[dracodraconis]

If you are a Facebook user who enjoys Scrabble, better find another way to get your fix. About two weeks ago, Hasbro, the maker of Scrabble(tm) has asked Facebook to remove the application. The Scrabulous application was developed by two programmers in Calcutta and currently has 2.3 million registered users, generating more than $25,000 each month in advertising revenue. The programmers' lawyers are currently attempting to negotiate with Hasbro to avoid having the application shut down. Found on Techdirt.

Comments

[wetdryvac.livejournal.com]

Ach, crap, they didn't get approval first?

*shakes head*

Lovely.

[dracodraconis.livejournal.com]

Given that they were in India, they may never have considered the problem of copyright with an American company, and still wouldn't if Facebook were not also American and so required to abide by copyright legislation. The huge popularity of the application seems to have caught everyone by surprise.

There is little doubt that this is a copyright violation, but the more profitable move for Hasbro would simply be to buy the company out and continue to gather the ad revenue.