Scrabulous makers put new word game in play
Changes follow suit by Hasbro
NEW YORK - Scrabulous, the online Scrabble knockoff whose makers were sued by Hasbro Inc., returned to the social-networking website Facebook with a new name and look to stave off the toymaker's infringement claims.
Hasbro sued Scrabulous makers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla on July 24 in federal court in New York, accusing the Indian brothers of violating the 77-year-old board game's copyrights and trademarks by imitating its name, rules and appearance.
The new version, "Wordscraper," has a different system for scoring points and employs circular letter-pieces instead of Hasbro's iconic square tiles. Scrabulous was removed from Facebook Inc.'s US and Canadian sites after Hasbro sued. Facebook isn't named in the suit.
"Wordscraper is an amazing, innovative word game creation tool from Rajat and Jayant," according to the game's Facebook promotion. "Don't follow rules, make them!"
The new application has 3,569 daily active users, while Scrabulous had more than 513,000.
Hasbro, the second-biggest toymaker, is seeking unspecified money damages and a court order barring the men from using the word "Scrabulous." The renaming of the game hasn't changed the status of the suit, which is pending.
Shelly Eckenroth, a spokeswoman for Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment. The toymaker holds the rights to Scrabble in the United States and Canada, while Mattel Inc., the largest toymaker, owns the rights everywhere else.
