Several months ago we reported how two individuals had built a Scrabble application for Facebook, and then were under pressure from the board game manufacturers to remove it. It appeared that they won their case, and that Scrabulous would stay. But unannounced a couple of days ago, Scrabulous vanished from Facebook. There are a lot of upset people, as thousands of people had been playing scrabble with friends on Facebook using Scrabulous.
Announcement from the Scrabulous Team:
Sometime on 22nd August, Facebook took the unfortunate decision to restrict
most users from accessing Scrabulous. This was in response to Mattel sending
them a “take down notice” on 14th August.Mattel itself had approached the Indian Courts in February 2008, seeking an
order for taking down Scrabulous from Facebook and other servers. The
Hon’ble High Court has reserved judgment in this matter after hearing both
parties. It surprises us that Mattel chose to direct Facebook to take down
Scrabulous without waiting for the Hon’ble High Court’s decision. 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 this step even though they were fully aware of the
circumstances under which the Mattel letter was sent to them.
Here are some comments from the “Save Scrabulous” Facebook Group:
I can’t believe I cannot play Scrabulous with my friends overseas anymore. I have the board game here at home! BUT I cannot play that with people in and around the world. I love this game!!!! It was a way to connect with people with similar interests. Have our humankind become so lawsuit orientated that we cannot just join in good clean fun? WOW. I am so dissapointed! This was one way of engaging in something that could build our world. Willa Deysel
The only thing that keeps me sane in study breaks, how petty to confiscate it from everyone, boo hoo, this was one of the main things I visited facebook for…and I was halfway through a kickass game(sorry Craigy!) Amber Seccombe
I can’t believe it’s gone. What harm has it done by allowing it on facebook?? If anything it is a good thing because it unites so many different people!!!Kelly Jarman
unbelievable! scrabulous should somehow be brought back to facebook.Loved to play it with people from all over the world. Tasneem Iqbal Jafferjee
I can’t believe it, Scrabulous was my favourite Facebook application, a game that you could play with people that you wouldn’t be able to play the real board game with because of distance. Do they think this will make us run out and buy it? If so they need to get a life. Cheryle Houghton
