If you’re on Facebook and were thinking about playing Scrabulous — an online, unauthorized version of the classic word game Scrabble — the word you’re looking for is “banned.” As in “banned from Facebook,” since that popular social-networking site has now pulled the game from most of the world that could still play it.

Announced Monday by Facebook, the action resulted from protests about copyright ownership by Mattel, which has rights to the game outside the U.S. and Canada. Scrabulous had already been pulled voluntarily from North America by its developers considering of a lawsuit filed by Hasbro, which owns the rights in that region.

Facebook said it had to act outside North America as well, after Mattel made a formal inquiry and the game’s developers took no action.

All Except India

The ban applies to all countries except India. A lawsuit by Mattel is pending in India, and Facebook’s approach there is that that is a

matter for Indian courts to handle. Scrabulous was developed by two brothers, Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, of Calcutta, India.

After Scrabulous was removed in North America, the brothers offered Wordscraper instead. The alternative game uses circles instead of Scrabble-familiar squares, which the developers hope will resolve legal issues.

“It surprises us that Mattel chose to direct Facebook to take down Scrabulous” even before the court in India had issued a ruling, Jayant Agarwalla said in an e-mail to news media. “Mattel’s action speaks volumes about their business practices and respect for the judiciary. It is even more astonishing that Facebook, which claims to be a fair and neutral party, took that step.”

Neither Facebook nor Mattel has commented on the matter.

Two Authorized Versions

Facebook has been encouraging outside developers to create applications for its platform, so the battle by Scrabulous counters that effort. But it could have faced legal…

Orginal post by Mike

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