Scrabulous wiped out worldwide

 

Gallery

By Barry Collins

Posted on 26 Aug 2008 at 11:20

The Facebook version of the popular Scrabble clone, Scrabulous, has been pulled off the social networking site worldwide.

Facebook pulled Scrabulous from its US and Canadian websites following a long-running dispute over its legality with Hasbro, which owns the rights to the game in those territories.

Now, Mattel, which owns the rights to the game in Europe, has asked Facebook to take down Scrabulous over here.

As of this morning, Scrabulous had been removed from the Facebook profiles of PC Pro staff, without warning or explanation. Scrabulous still appears in the site's search engine, but is met with a warning that "Use of application 'Scrabulous' has been restricted."

Scrabulous's co-founder, Jayant Agarwalla, has vented his anger at both Facebook and Mattel. "It surprises us that Mattel chose to direct Facebook to take down Scrabulous without waiting for the [Indian court's] decision," he told AP speaking of an ongoing case in his homeland which will determine who owns the rights to the game. "Mattel's action speaks volumes about their business practices and respect for the judiciary."

Mattel has its own official version of Scrabble available to Facebook users in the UK, although it has failed to match the popularity of Scrabulous.