Intellectual Property Law

Facebook Scrabble: Like Scrabulous, Except You Can't PlaySilicon Alley Insider

Mattel and RealNetworks have released a legal version of Scrabble for Facebook. Who cares? Brothers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, who have created Scrabulous, a very popular knock-off version of the game for the social network.

When last we checked in on the Agarwallas, they were supposedly negotiating with Mattel, Real (RNWK), Hasbro and Electronic Arts (ERTS), all of whom have rights to the game. But the two brothers were said to be holding out for too much money. Presumably the introduction of a legal competitor will help get them to a reasonable price.

But not just yet. The brothers' version has 565,659 active users; Mattel and Real's has all of 1,779. We'd compare the two, but we can't: Hasbro has the rights to Scrabble in the U.S. and Canada, so Mattel and Real's version isn't available (legally) to residents of those two countries.

See Also: The Scrabulous Deal Snag: Money

Full post as published by IP Law Daily on April 06, 2008 (boomark / email).