Hasbro vs Scrabulous
How to damage your brand with one easy lawsuit
Hasbro and Mattel, the makers of Scrabble, have slapped Facebook with a copyright infringement lawsuit over the wildly popular “Scrabulous”. Scrabulous is an multi-player, online clone to the 70-year old Scrabble word game.
Hasbro has gone after Facebook and the creators of Scrabulous in a misguided attempt to “control the brand”.
In my opinion, this is because Hasbro doesn’t understand the true seismic shift that has happened as a result of interactive media. You no longer “control” your brand via one-way, authoritative communication. Your customers now discuss, remix and share your brand with each other in today’s interactive marketplace. You can try to sue them all (like the failed record industry) or you can embrace this new reality and create a strategic platform that allows customers to share within a framework of your choosing.
Hasbro’s outdated thinking will only backfire as it faces waves of angry customers, bad press, and a shift in brand perception.
Scrabulous already has more than 500,000 daily players - that’s 500,000 people who now think Hasbro is a bully. An unofficial “Save Scrabulous” group has sprung up in response, with at last count over 8,000 31,000 53,594 members. One rabid fan posted “I’ve burnt my Scrabble board in protest!” another, more pointedly: “Do these greedy fools not realize that they should be paying the creators of Scrabulous for all the damn fans of the game they created?” Is this the kind of conversation you want about your brand?
Of course, Hasbro deserves it full share for creating Scrabble, but instead of suing the developers that created the new media clone, it should thank them for innovating when the company couldn’t. By striking a deal or buying out the creators of Scrabulous, Hasbro could ride a wave of online popularity and reach new customers without risk. Hasbro could then use the online version to market the offline game or add premium features that would allow them to charge micro-payments (How about $1.99 a month for customized tiles, or personalized leaderboards). The platform is there, the customers are there, so why not plug in, instead of shutting it all down?
My Advice to Hasbro:
1. Negotiate a fair deal with the developers of Scrabulous, understanding that they took a risk when you wouldn’t.
2. Honestly explain Hasbro position via the “Save Scrabulous” group and other online communities, not through a press release or legal brief.
3. Develop guidelines of how your brand should be presented online, with enough flexibility to allow innovation and growth.
4. Create the internal structure for innovators to contact you and work with your products to develop new ideas.
5. Datamine your online version to find your most loyal players. Treat them as heroes and empower them to spread the word for you. Offer them insider information and special offers that they can disseminate to their network.
“Business-as-usual doesn’t realize this because it continues to conceptualize markets as distant abstractions — battlefields, targets, demographics — and the Net as simply another conduit down which companies can broadcast messages. But the Net isn’t a conduit, a pipeline, or another television channel. The Net invites your customers in to talk, to laugh with each other, and to learn from each other. Connected, they reclaim their voice in the market, but this time with more reach and wider influence than ever.”
- The Clutetrain Manifesto
Photo: Ella’s Dad from Flickr
January 17th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Couldn’t have agreed more.
As someone who just started using Scrabulous… it’s only reminded me to bring out (and purchase as a gift) the board game.
January 24th, 2008 at 12:06 am
I think you have some good points.
But Hasbro faces an unenviable decision — if they simply ‘put up’ with Scrabulous, they’re going to end up losing their trademark.
And Scrabulous is a super obvious ripoff of Scrabble. Sure, you can play over a few days, and there’s a built in dictionary.
But it used to link TO THE SCRABBLE WEBSITE. And it uses the OFFICIAL SCRABBLE DICTIONARY.
Seems like a pretty clear violation to me. While perhaps Hasbro could have handled this a lot better, I don’t really think they’re in the wrong.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:27 am
I would gladly pay the scrabulous people to use their site! Hasbro should take notice of all the people using this site and learn from it.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:00 am
Hasbro should come to some agreement with Scrabulous! After all Jay and Ray have done for hundreds of thousands of people!!!
February 16th, 2008 at 3:42 am
[…] is a great example which shows why most companies still don’t get the new world of marketing. Bloggers and tech pundits alike unanimously slated Hasbro for this, what some described as […]
February 28th, 2008 at 11:50 am
[…] I support you in your ongoing legal battle against the tyrannical Hasbro Corporation. […]
March 13th, 2008 at 9:45 am
I think Hasbro is just after the money and I would rather support Scrabulous or other sites than Hasbro because they are another big-wig corporate giant that is trying to stick their hands in a pot where they don’t belong. I will be signing the online petition at Facebook because I am a “little guy” myself as a potential small business owner and figure that these BIG companies make far too much money as it is for their own good! Just for the name - give me a break!
March 13th, 2008 at 9:48 am
I was not a big fan of Srabble until Scrabulous came out. Shame on Hasbro for sticking their hands where they don’t belong! Find some other lame excuse for making money than your own BIG name! When we have children, Hasbro will be the last company we will buy! You lost out - I will be signing on the Facebook support.
May 18th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
I love scrabulous, but I see Hasbro’s side as well. If they simply buy Scrabulous out, they’ll open the door for any and every developer to rip off their games and then just sit back and wait for the pay off. This is no different than those people who bought the urls of large brands (Before they wised up) and then just waited for them to come and pay inflated prices to buy them back. I’m pretty sure that’s no longer even legal.
As much as we all love Facebook and Scrabulous and the mighty, mighty internet, we can’t just forget or ignore copyright laws. What I would LOVE to see happen is for Hasbro to LICENSE Scrabble to Scrabulous for $1. They protect their brand, but don’t come across as evil and greedy. AND Scrabulous then can remain free. Because, as much as I love it, I am NOT paying for it.
that is all.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I truly believe Hasbro should applaude and pay Scrabulous founders for the reasons mentioned above.
Also, the “official” Scrabble that is currently in beta on facebook created by EA is SOOOOO ridiculously slow. I and I’m sure 500,000 other users on Facebook did not install and play the application because of the aesthetics. I do not need or appreciate taking upwards of 9-17 seconds for my letters to be placed on the board and scored after I click “Play.” It’s assinine the way the game is programmed. Just like EA.
I’ve played over 100 games using Scrabulous–I had forgotten all about the game of Scrabble before I was invited via Facebook.
A big “whatever” to Hasbro.
July 29th, 2008 at 6:00 am
Hasbro has every right to sue the makers of Scrabulous. They are making money off copyrighted materials, something only Hasbro should legally be doing. It doesn’t matter if it’s an inconvenience to the Scrabulous-playing public. It’s against the law, and that’s that.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
You are 100% correct.
I agree completely.
Hasbro has merely managed to shoot itself in the foot, while over half a million people watch and shake their heads in disgust.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:10 am
What’s more important? enforcing the protection of IP rights, or make money from thousand of fans that revive an old game? in other words: should the company protect their IP risking their reputation, or should treat this as an opportunity to use the situation as a sucessfull marketing campaign where they have invested zero dollars?
Laws were made with a convenience in mind, and that convenience is now OLD. The “copy” cannot be stopped in the world of “digital” tools. Everybody can make a copy of anything. I dont want to drop IP laws down the toilet but let’s assume that something has to change to get a win-win situation to copyright holders and the public. Maybe the laws, maybe the way companies try to enforce the law, maybe educate the people.