Scrabulous, launched in 2005, has over 500,000 players every day. Revenues for the makers, Indian brothers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, are generated through advertising. Hasbro recently launched a beta version of Scrabble, through Electronic Arts, on Facebook, albeit to some criticism of the game’s slowness. Facebook has yet to respond to the lawsuit.
Barry Nagler, Hasbro's general counsel, offered a statement. “Hasbro has an obligation to act appropriately against infringement of our intellectual properties. 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."
The response from Scrabulous fans on Facebook has been almost universally negative toward the lawsuit.