Scrabulous creators sued in United States by Hasbro

Game maker Hasbro, just weeks after the release of a properly licensed Scrabble Facebook beta, have filed suit against the creators of the unauthorized, and apparently too-popular Scrabulous, asking for removal of the game in addition to unspecified damages.

At the beginning of the year Facebook was contacted about Scrabulous by Hasbro, owner of the game's rights in the United States, asking that it be taken down.

The game, a product of two self-proclaimed Scrabble fans, remained one of the most popular applications on Facebook. It counted over 450,000 users daily, and a group called "Save Scrabulous" with well over 50,000 members.

In a statement, Hasbro said, "We view the Scrabulous application as clear and blatant infringement of our Scrabble intellectual property, and we are pursuing this legal action in accordance with the interests of our shareholders, and the integrity of the Scrabble brand."

Many users feel that Scrabulous is superior to Elecronic Arts' legitimately licensed Scrabble Facebook application, which they say has an inferior dictionary and counts a paltry 8,862 daily users.