Rumoured to be on its way out back in January, users of the popular Facebook application -- the only reason for some to check their Facebook profiles daily -- started signing petitions and lobbying Hasbro, Scrabble's North American owners to lay off the brothers from Calcutta, who started the knock-off after they weren't able to find a version they liked online.

Electronic Arts released an authorized, free and much flashier version of the game to Facebook users last week. But early reviews indicate that Scrabulous users -- numbering more than 450,000 -- aren't rushing to change allegiances.

The Scrabulous brothers' earnings of a reported $20,000 a month in ad revenue is perhaps giving Hasbro even more of an incentive to cry copywright infringement in court. But whether Hasbro likes it or not, it's going to be hard to argue against the impact Scrabulous has had on the Scrabble brand. Would Scrabble be as popular with hundreds of thousands of social networkers if not for Scrabulous? It's doubtful.

posted [07.25.08]