Scrabulous backlash defaces Facebook

NEW DELHI: The blogger backlash has begun. A day after Scrabulous, the ultra-popular Scrabble clone created by two Kolkata brothers, was taken off Facebook in the US and Canada, the social networking site was flooded with protest message boards. And new Facebook groups were created with names like “Down with Hasbro.”

Although some people spoke up to defend Hasbro’s rights, most people jeered at the company, calling it everything from “short-sighted” to “technologically in the dark” to “despicable”.

“You didn’t have the smarts or initiative to come up with as good a product at the boys did, so your alternative is to mess with the superior product?” said one typical comment on Facebook. “Do you think that the thousands of folks who were enjoying this superior application will now come  running to your inferior product?

The game, a favourite time-waster among cubicle dwellers, was created by Rajat Aggarwala and younger brother Jayant. On July 24, Hasbro, which owns the North American rights to Scrabble, sued them for copyright infringement.

Hasbro owns Scrabble rights in North America, while its rival toy maker Mattel has the rights in the rest of the world. Mattel has already filed a suit against the fifth-most popular application on Facebook in an Indian court earlier this year, and is awaiting a decision on its complaint.

Heather Timmons of IHT contributed to this story.