'Wordscraper' spells revival of Scrabulous online wordgame

AFP, July, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — Scrabble knock-off Scrabulous was reborn on Thursday as online game Wordscraper in a move that could help fend off a lawsuit by US game maker Hasbro.

The reincarnation came a day after Scrabulous was pulled from US and Canadian Facebook pages and just hours after hackers sabotaged a Hasbro-sanctioned online Scrabble game made by Electronic Arts.

Hasbro, which owns rights to the Scrabble trademark in the United States and Canada, said in a release that it is evaluating developments and will take action "as appropriate."

Scrabulous.com was launched by brothers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla in India in 2005 and rocketed to popularity two years later after they released a version as a free "add-on" application for Facebook, the social networking site.

The Agarwalla brothers pulled Scrabulous from US and Canadian Facebook pages on Tuesday due to a lawsuit filed against them on ...