Scrabulous Scrapped?

Serba refused to comment on reports that Hasbro sent out legal notices to four parties involved in developing and hosting the game. He said he could not say anything more than what was in the official statement.

(scrabulous.com)

Neither Facebook nor Scrabulous.com responded to requests for comment.

The legal kerfuffle comes mere months after Hasbro signed with video game developer Electronic Arts to develop electronic versions of its classic board games. EA, however, insists that the issue is between Hasbro and Scrabulous, and has nothing to do with its deal.

"As part of our deal with Hasbro, we do have the rights to make Scrabble games in the U.S. and North America," spokeswoman Trudy Muller wrote in an e-mail. "We have games in development but haven't announced for what platforms or when they'll be available yet."

Hal Halpin, president of the Entertainment Consumers Association, a group that caters to the video game industry professionals and enthusiasts, believes that traditional game companies like Hasbro should work with developers as a way of finding a new audience.

"I think the brightest thing for more traditional companies is to work with these sorts of companies [like Scrabulous]. Young fans play on a platform they're accustomed to, and it's something that they can share with friends," Halpin said. "Companies could be able to theoretically convert brand-new customers, and people who might even go out and buy the board game who have played it on Facebook."

Future Trouble for Facebook?

In addition to Scrabulous' own troubles, the situation calls into question a host of potential legal landmines for Facebook, which allows programmers to develop and upload all sorts of applications to the social networking site.

"The big issue here is what this implies for Facebook," said Tom Hemnes, a Boston-based attorney who specializes in copyright and trademark law. "If I were betting on this, if the case came to litigation or settlement, [I would bet] that Facebook would lose. They are indirectly associated with the name Scrabble to attract viewers to their site, and that would be trademark infringement."