My friend Eric once described Facebook as a platform for serving up Scrabulous games. Beyond that, it offers nothing of interest to him.
I have to wonder how many Erics there are out there, and how many of them would wander away from Facebook if Scrabulous were killed. Because if you haven't heard of it before, Scrabulous is...well, it's Scrabble, really. Or at least Scrabble-ish to the extreme. Hasbro owns the rights to Scrabble the physical game, while EA owns the rights to a hypothetical online version, and recently Mattel and Hasbro asked Facebook to remove the incredibly popular game on the grounds that it violates Hasbro's trademark. The game's fans responded by creating a "Save Scrabulous" Facebook group that currently has 52,681 members.
The deadline to shut the game down came and went with nary a ripple and no word about its status. The game remained active with a message promising that new features are coming soon. Today that message was replaced with an update from the game's creators that is short on information but offers hope that Talks are in process.
Hi folks :)
We are really grateful to the entire Scrabulous community for the exceptional support that has been provided. It is amazing to see that a small application has touched so many people across the world! There has been a lot of speculation about the future of Scrabulous and it is currently impossible for us to comment on this matter. However, like always, we shall update you as soon as we can.
In the meantime, please click here to enjoy a song created by an anonymous Scrabulous fan. :)
Which is encouraging to me, because I am currently losing about six Scrabulous games right now and would hate to see the plug pulled before I have a chance to make an astonishing comeback.
Many bloggers responded to the move by Hasbro and Mattel with posts to this effect: What a bonehead move, defending their trademark! Don't they understand this Brave New World of the Internet? They should buy or sponsor the game! These responses struck me as long on outrage, short on actual knowledge of trademark law.
So I loved this post by Shel Holtz and the comments by Mike Keliher, Jake McKee, and Roxanne Darling. Holtz explains that under the terms of current trademark law, these lawyers are doing their jobs very well. Then Keliher, McKee, and Darling clarify various factors in this case and come up with a scenario that could potentially satisfy everyone--lawyers and PR folks alike. Here's Darling's wrap-up:
People get bullied into corners based on advice to follow traditional behavior, when even the law itself does not require it. “Defending your trademark” can be established in many ways. Being an engaged corporate citizen has more value these days than ever. Why wait for the law to change when we can craft win-win responses right now?