Scrabulous is shut down for now...DOH!!!

[Cheesypuff]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7531669.stm

Facebook has closed down its Scrabulous application following legal action from toy maker Hasbro.

So far the application has only be disabled for users in the US and Canada, the New York Times reported.

Hasbro is suing the Calcutta-based founders of Scrabulous, claiming they are infringing its copyright and trademark.

It asked Facebook to block access following the launch of its own official version of Scrabble.

Defence campaign

Scrabulous has been one of the most popular applications on Facebook, regularly racking up more than 500,000 users each day.

Fans have mounted a vigorous defence campaign since the joint owners of Scrabble, Mattel and Hasbro, announced their intention to sue the Facebook developers back in January.

According to a Facebook spokesman, despite the decision to remove the application it isn't taking sides in the Scrabulous-Hasbro dispute.

"We're trying to maintain just being a neutral platform," the spokesman said.

[ArkiStan]

I try to keep my facebook account as clutter-free as possible, but scrabulous was the one app that I did install as it was a great distraction from my school work while I was still in grad school. For some reason, I just stopped playing it though.

[Thesifer]

Yeah, I was playing until about a month or two ago. So I don't I will notice. Saw this coming from a mile away though.

The "Oregon Trail" game changed their name and some functions to avoid the same problems.

[GraingerGuy]

Yeah....Hasbro and Mattel should be thanking those two guys instead of suing them. They made that game really popular again.. Stupid big companies....

[Maarchk]

I totally started playing scrabulous with friends, strangers, and even GA'ers because it was easy and something to do that you didn't have to constantly check up on.

They put up a scrabble app and it got hacked and shut down. probably by angry folks. It's funny. if it wasn't popular, they wouldn't care. Big companies suck.

[Jcranmer]

Is that what happened? It got hacked? I added the licensed version yesterday, only to get the message that it was down. I was just starting to get into Scrabulous. :|

[Cheesypuff]

well...i think it's gone for good now...they took the links away from my facebook page. those jerks!!!

[baggio248]

YAY!



'Scrabulous' Gets a Nip-Tuck, Returns as 'Wordscraper'
By Caroline McCarthy, CNET News.com
In the high school cafeteria of Facebook apps, "Scrabulous" is like that girl who gets in trouble for showing too much skin, only to throw on a hoodie and be let back into the principal's good graces. Sort of. The game has effectively returned, but with a redesigned board, a few original play options, a different points tabulation system, and a new name, "Wordscraper".
Props to Adam Ostrow of Mashable for picking up on this one early.

The Facebook application "Scrabulous" had been taken down by its creators earlier this week when Hasbro, the game manufacturer that owns the rights to "Scrabble" in the United States and Canada, pointed out that "Scrabulous" was a near copy. Few disagreed with the allegation, but many loyal "Scrabulous" fans wondered why Hasbro couldn't have struck a deal instead of insisting upon a shutdown, especially as the "real" "Scrabble" game on Facebook succumbed to technical difficulties.

The reason for "Scrabulous"' extreme makeover has its roots in some pretty gray legal matters: the real problem wasn't that it ripped off "Scrabble", but that it ripped off "Scrabble" so blatantly. The colors of the board were the same, the list of rules led to a Wikipedia entry for "Scrabble" rules, and the two names were similar enough for Hasbro to cry foul.

[Jcranmer]

Sweet!

[Cheesypuff]

so...the new wordscapper has a function where you can make your own board....hehe...guess what my board looks like?! hehhehe i'm gonna get sued....