Hasbro files infringement suit against the creators of Facebook's 'Scrabulous'

PAWTUCKET, R.I. In another infringement case involving the toy industry, Hasbro has filed suit against the creators of the Scrabulous game application, which it claims infringes on its SCRABBLE intellectual property rights. Hasbro also has delivered a notification of copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to Facebook, which hosts the Scrabulous game, requesting that it remove the application in the U.S. and Canada as soon as possible.

The suit, which was filed in the Southern District of New York earlier today, names Scrabulous creators, Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla, and RJ Softwares as the defendants.

“Hasbro has an obligation to act appropriately against infringement of our intellectual properties,” said Barry Nagler, Hasbro’s general counsel. “We view the Scrabulous application as clear and blatant infringement of our SCRABBLE intellectual property, and we are pursuing this legal action in accordance with the interests of our shareholders, and the integrity of the SCRABBLE brand.”

Hasbro has a strategic alliance with Electronic Arts to create digital games based on Hasbro’s intellectual properties. As part of this alliance, EA launched a legitimate version of SCRABBLE for Facebook earlier this month, which is the start of many Hasbro game properties slated to launch on social networking sites later this year.

“Hasbro and Electronic Arts are very pleased to offer fans an authentic SCRABBLE experience on Facebook, which is complementary to EA’s full-range of SCRABBLE offerings--from the cell phone, to the iPod and now, social networking,” said Mark Blecher, gm of Hasbro digital media and gaming. “Hasbro and EA have worked diligently to provide a great game play experience on Facebook, and we are confident that fans of the game will welcome a genuine experience highlighted by top-of-the-line graphics, strong technical support and of course, classic SCRABBLE game play.”