Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Mattel and Hasbro, the owners of Scrabble, have decided to sue the developers of the enormously popular (and addictive) Facebook application, Scrabulous. This has caused quite a furore. I, for one, would be sad to see Scrabulous go. On the other hand, let’s look at the facts: the developers have taken the concept of Scrabble – an intellectual property protected by copyright – and ripped it off shamelessly. They’ve distributed it for free via Facebook, which gets them the sympathy vote from Joe Public – “I’d never played Scrabble until I found Scrabulous” is one of the most common responses.
What many people don’t consider is that the developers are creaming off huge advertising revenues from the app. If Mattel and Hasbro have any business acumen they won’t kill Scrabulous; instead they should claim the share of the advertising revenues that they rightly deserve, and enjoy the benefits of the offline Scrabble renaissance fuelled by the runaway success of Scrabulous. Or will Mattel and Hasbro follow the steps of the recording industry – fail completely to embrace a new technology that could rejuvenate their business, and try to sue innovation out of existance.
