Scrabulous Developers Claim Mixed Victory In Indian Court; Name In Violation, Game Not, They Say
This story was written by Staci D. Kramer.
Jayant and Rajant Agarwalla are telling fans they've had a partial victory in their effort to defend Scrabulous, their highly popular digital version of Scrabble. The LA Times reports that the two sent an e-mail to fans claiming the Indian court where they being sued by Mattel ruled that the name Scrabulous was a trademark violation. But, they say, the game itself doesn't violate Mattel's rights. We haven't seen the court papers on this or heard Mattel's response so hard to know what the ruling really means. The Agarwallas say they "will take a call on whether we will appeal against the decision on the trademark after consulting our legal advisors."
Mattel, which holds the international rights, filed suit in India in February. Hasbro, the North American rights holder, sued in July, prompting Facebook to ask the Agarwallas to withhold the game from North American users. Last month, responding to a complaint by Mattel, Facebook barred the app from most users; India, where the Mattel lawsuit was pending, was the exception. Meanwhile, the Agarawallas launched Wordscraper, another Scrabble-a-like but with circles rather than squares and some other surface changes. Wordscraper lists 232,440 monthly active Facebook users.
By Staci D. Kramer