in a nutshell, the situation as i understand it is this: scrabble is a trade mark owned in the united states and in canada by hasbro, and everywhere else in the world by mattel. scrabulous is the online version of scrabble developed by indian brothers rajat and jayant agarwalla, and as a facebook application it has acquired in the region of 600,000 regular users worldwide. some of them devoted, like myself: i love scrabulous. it replicates the scrabble board, allows you to maintain multiple games with your facebook friends, it has a clean, simple interface, it keeps track of your games statistics, and it adds a little joy to your online existence every day.
currently i have three games going: one with one of my oldest friends, whom i've been in ongoing competition with ever since we've known each other (be it in real-life knockout whist, a 'tournament' that has been going for well over ten years, or in virtual scrabble); one with a new friend who i don't really know all that well yet, but whom i have the greatest esteem and respect for as an actor; and one with a friend who at the moment lives in dubai and whom i would not, otherwise, probably be in contact with at all. so scrabulous, as far as i'm concerned, is a good thing, and no doubt about it.
but, as you've guessed (you may already know) there's a problem. hasbro and mattel are, not altogether surprisingly, deeply unhappy. because you don't need to be a particularly sharp copyright lawyer to hazard a guess that the agarwalla brothers' venture - spirited as it is - seriously treads on their toes. i had long wondered how rajat and jayant had squared their game with the copyright owners of scrabble, and soon enough it turned out: they hadn't. so hasbro and mattel both announced they would take legal action and indeed in january 2008, hasbro filed a lawsuit against scrabulous for copyright infringement. as a result, facebook shut off scrabulous in july 2008. for about 48 hours or so, no matter where you were, you couldn't play scrabulous. then it started to work again anywhere outside north america. but as of last night (22 august 2008), it was shut down everywhere in the world except india, apparently in response to a letter from mattel to the indian high court. (the logic of this is not entirely clear to me either, but the effect is the same: scrabulous has gone.)
now, it's fair to say that rajat and jayant were maybe a touch naive to think they could simply appropriate a board game - design, tile distribution, scoring system and all - allude to it in the name of their online version, and get away with it. i'm not an expert, but in legal terms i should imagine this is pretty straightforward.
but otherwise, it isn't. not any more. because the world has changed. and in this changed world, the rules are rapidly unravelling, and have to therefore be rewritten. in the music industry, this has now been recognised. youtube is awash with videos that use tracks which the people posting the videos most certainly don't have the 'rights' to. but the artists and record labels not only allow this, they encourage it. and it's not a bad strategy: if using online communities to freely disseminate content popularises what you offer and creates devotees, you can fairly much bank on a commercial pay-back at the other end of your operation. the ting tings are a perfect example of how to use youtube and free music downloads to generate support and then hit the number one spot with paid-for downloads and singles sales in the slipstream of their own popularity.
now, it's fair to say that rajat and jayant were maybe a touch naive to think they could simply appropriate a board game - design, tile distribution, scoring system and all - allude to it in the name of their online version, and get away with it. i'm not an expert, but in legal terms i should imagine this is pretty straightforward.
but otherwise, it isn't. not any more. because the world has changed. and in this changed world, the rules are rapidly unravelling, and have to therefore be rewritten. in the music industry, this has now been recognised. youtube is awash with videos that use tracks which the people posting the videos most certainly don't have the 'rights' to. but the artists and record labels not only allow this, they encourage it. and it's not a bad strategy: if using online communities to freely disseminate content popularises what you offer and creates devotees, you can fairly much bank on a commercial pay-back at the other end of your operation. the ting tings are a perfect example of how to use youtube and free music downloads to generate support and then hit the number one spot with paid-for downloads and singles sales in the slipstream of their own popularity.
applied to scrabulous and facebook, there is no reason why this principle shouldn't work: scrabulous, with its vast and extremely enthusiastic supporter base, is brazenly infringing on copyright, but in doing so it is also advertising the game and concept of scrabble daily, for free, to a captive, receptive, audience, many of whom probably would never before have thought about playing - let alone buying - scrabble.
sadly, at hasbro and mattel, this new reality has not, it would appear, been recognised. i don't know how the conversations between them and the agarwalla brothers went, what was on offer and what wasn't. i know that mattel has since launched its own online version on facebook, but as mattel doesn't own scrabble in north america, theirs can't be a global platform, and so it hasn't caught the imagination of facebook users. mattel, it seems, much as hasbro, has fairly missed the boat. but that doesn't mean that they can't benefit from all the exposure their real-life game is getting through scrabulous. but instead of working with scrabulous, they are both now determinedly pursuing its creators and driving it off facebook.
sadly, at hasbro and mattel, this new reality has not, it would appear, been recognised. i don't know how the conversations between them and the agarwalla brothers went, what was on offer and what wasn't. i know that mattel has since launched its own online version on facebook, but as mattel doesn't own scrabble in north america, theirs can't be a global platform, and so it hasn't caught the imagination of facebook users. mattel, it seems, much as hasbro, has fairly missed the boat. but that doesn't mean that they can't benefit from all the exposure their real-life game is getting through scrabulous. but instead of working with scrabulous, they are both now determinedly pursuing its creators and driving it off facebook.
and that, i think, is stupidity supreme. because no matter how much they are within their rights to do this, they are most categorically out of their minds: by knocking scrabulous off facebook, they have in one fell swoop alienated, disappointed and angered half a million people worldwide. and not just a little: scrabulous is a part of its users lives; people who - like i - have built scrabulous into their day: a few minutes at the top or the tail of each one is given to making a couple of moves on scrabulous. and that simple, honest pleasure has been taken away, by hasbro and mattel.
so in actual fact, i do think it's all very straightforward. hasbro and mattel are applying old thinking in a new world and they are making a gigantic mistake. which is why i support the idea of sending a message to them, by calling for a boycott. bit of consumer pressure: if a large enough number of people say they will simply not buy any hasbro or mattel products - and their brands include most of the best known toys and games, so there's a lot of xmas trade on the cards - until they have resolved their issue with scrabulous and allow it back on facebook in its original form, then maybe hasbro and mattel will learn to adapt to the changed reality. and that will help them too, in the long term, because in business, as surely as in life and nature, you do, over time, adapt or die.
join the 'save scrabulous' group on facebook
join the 'boycott hasbro till scrabulous is back group' on facebook
so in actual fact, i do think it's all very straightforward. hasbro and mattel are applying old thinking in a new world and they are making a gigantic mistake. which is why i support the idea of sending a message to them, by calling for a boycott. bit of consumer pressure: if a large enough number of people say they will simply not buy any hasbro or mattel products - and their brands include most of the best known toys and games, so there's a lot of xmas trade on the cards - until they have resolved their issue with scrabulous and allow it back on facebook in its original form, then maybe hasbro and mattel will learn to adapt to the changed reality. and that will help them too, in the long term, because in business, as surely as in life and nature, you do, over time, adapt or die.
join the 'save scrabulous' group on facebook
join the 'boycott hasbro till scrabulous is back group' on facebook
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