Hasbro Drops Scrabulous Suit

Hasbro has dropped a lawsuit against the creators of Facebook Scrabble clone Scrabulous, though it didn't specify its reasons for relinquishing its claim. Two brothers from Calcutta, Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla, developed the Facebook game after being unable to find a version of Scrabble online that they liked. While it ran, it reportedly earned $25,000 a month for the brothers in monthly ad revenue. Hasbro ordered Facebook to remove the game in January, although Facebook resisted for several months. Hasbro didn't file suit until the Summer -- just after Electronic Arts launched its own Scrabble game, a product of its partnership with Hasbro, at its Pogo casual web portal. According to the Associated Press, the Agarwalla brothers' company RJ Softwares agreed not to use the word "Scrabulous" and has made changes to new versions of the game created in the lawsuit's wake that help distinguish it from Hasbro's product. "The agreement provides people in the U.S. and Canada with a choice of different games and also avoids potentially lengthy and costly litigations," said the brothers in a statement.