

Scrabulous shut down on Facebook - narendra
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/facebook-shuts-down-scrabulous/index.html?ref=technology

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run4yourlives
In my opinion, this is exactly how copyright should work, instead of the sue
grandma bullshit we have now.

Hasbro has exclusive rights to Scrabble that is pretty distinctive in brand
and shape. Trademark, not copyright protects both the brand and the design of
the board. Hasbro would have a case here, rest assured.

What we have here is a situation where one party is making money based on the
IP of another, including using the brand's strength to attract attention. If
that isn't outright IP infringement, we may as well get rid of the whole
concept.

We're all better off that this didn't get to the courts. If Hasbro had lost,
you can all but guarantee that there would be new and even more restrictive
measures put in place to protect IP.

Scrabulous violated the spirit of the law, if not the letter. Those of us who
already feel the letter of the law goes too far shouldn't be supporting these
guys, honestly.

~~~
ajkirwin
It may be how copyright does work, but it's not how it should work.

Money has been made off of Scrabble for 50 years. Maybe enough is enough?

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alaskamiller
What?

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nickb
_It is a bit of a surprise that Scrabulous, an obvious copy of the board game
Scrabble, managed to avoid shutdown as long as it did._

So what if it's a copy? You cannot copyright a game:
<http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl108.html> What Scrabulous should have done is
to modify their name so it's not even similar to Scrabble (and doesn't share a
syllable and a half) and they should have fought this in a court. They've made
enough money to hire an excellent lawyer in the US. Had Hasbro had a really
good case, they would have filed charges in court. They opted for a generic
DMCA...

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LogicHoleFlaw
You can't copyright the rules to the game. Any distinctive design elements can
be copyrighted. But if those elements are dictated by the rules then they
still cannot be copyrighted.

Honestly I doubt that Hasbro could successfully pursue a copyright
infringement case over Scrabulous. Scrabble has a very generic design which is
mostly directly implemented from the rules. Hasbro's best bet would likely be
a trademark claim. Though, if a court determined that "Scrabble" has become a
generic term for an acrostic game then they could actually lose the trademark.
That's a serious danger, just from my own personal perception.

The DMCA is a lousy way for Hasbro to try to eliminate Scrabulous. If I were
Scrabulous I would send a counter-notice, at which point under the DMCA
Facebook would be required to reinstate the game. Then take it to court.
Hasbro will have a hell of a time making this one stick.

Edit:

The safe harbor and counter-notice provisions of the DMCA are the only thing I
like about it.

Hasbro is the current Evil Empire of the toy industry. I would not mind seeing
them taken down a peg. Long live the underdog!

~~~
evgen
Scrabulous would have a case, if they did not make such a direct rip-off of
Scrabble (e.g. see all of the not-quite-direct-rip-offs floating around casual
gaming sites or for mobile devices.) The coloring of the board, the design of
the tiles, etc; all of this is covered by copyright and Scrabulous made the
bad decision to ignore this fact and simply copy everything. Scrabulous can
fight this, but they will lose.

~~~
jrockway
Yeah. If I were cloning this, I would put the numbers in the upper-left-hand
corner, and change the colors on the board. Perhaps I would change the point
value for some letters also, and maybe move the "triple word score" squares
around.

Actually... now that the competition is shut down, I wonder if I should
implement this. Can I have some funding, kthx? ;)

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anthonyrubin
The headline is now "Scrabulous Shut Down on Facebook".

"UPDATED 11:00 a.m.| Facebook says the decision to block Scrabulous for U.S.
and Canadian users was made by the Scrabulous developers, not Facebook."

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thorax
Sneaky. They released a new variation called Wordscraper:
<http://apps.facebook.com/wordscraper>

You can make your own custom boards, it seems, but otherwise it's the same
game so far.

Screenshot: <http://screencast.com/t/Cb1m0kGeVh>

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jsdalton
No, that's not the same game. "Similar" I will grant you, but if you are a
Scrabble player than this substitute would never suffice.

~~~
aston
Custom board = make your own Scrabble, but not in a way that Scrabulous could
get into trouble for.

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wallflower
What do the letters D,M,C,A spell?

I assume the Indian creators were too tough for Hasbro to negotiate a
settlement with (good for them, not good for their addicted users).

~~~
thomasswift
mad,mac,dam,cam,cad,ma,am,ad, bullshit(wait what?)

<http://www.wineverygame.com/wbg.php>

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selmer
I disagree with the writer who believes that the game board isn't highly
protectable under copyright law. The number of squares, the arrangement of
double and triple letter squares, the point values of the letters and the
number of letters of each point value, are all copyrightable expression
protected under the law. Copyright law doesn't prevent any else from
developing their word-tile game but it does protect the particular combination
and arrangement of these components that make Scrabble recognizable as
Scrabble.

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selmer
I disagree with the writer who believes that the game board isn't highly
protectable under copyright law. The number of squares, the arrangement of
double and triple letter squares, the point values of the letters and the
number of letters of each point value, are all copyrightable expression
protected under the law. Copyright law doesn't prevent any else from
developing their word-tile game but it does protect the particular combination
and arrangement of these components that make Scrabble recognizable as
Scrabble.

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steveplace
Or they could skip the hassle, negotiate a royalty with Hasbro, cut a little
into their margins, and get on with it.

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jfarmer
Hasbro reportedly offered them a large sum and they turned it down. Serves 'em
right.

~~~
jrockway
Turning down a company's offer to buy you out is a valid reason for them to
apply a law designed to prevent movie piracy against you? That "serves 'em
right"?

It "serves 'em right" for trying to profit from a clone of someone else's
idea, but I doubt they did anything illegal. I hope they fight this and win,
but it's a shame that they didn't use the opportunity to create a slightly
different variant of Scrabble. Maybe it would have been better.

~~~
jfarmer
Yes, it does. What did they think Hasbro was going to do if they turned down
the offer? Shrug and walk away?

I'm surprised Hasbro even made an offer, honestly. I thought they would have
pressured Facebook to do something like this right away.

~~~
jrockway
_I'm surprised Hasbro even made an offer_

I'm not. Buying them would have saved Hasbro the effort of hiring developers
that knew the Facebook API, getting popular on Facebook, etc. They would have
instantly had a popular product and qualified developers to work on the
project.

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JMiao
i think what i find most appalling is how the electronic arts/hasbro scrabble
app croaked this morning, presumably due to the incoming flood of scrabulous
refugees.

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mark007
no way!

