Wordscraper

Anyone with a Facebook page will have heard of Scrabulous and probably have had it on their page.  Well the creators of Scrabulous have been sued by Hasbro as it was too much like Scrabble, so changes have been made. 

The new game is called Wordscraper.  The tiles are round instead of square.  The tiles earning double and triple points have been rearranged and quadruple points tiles have been added.  Still sounds like Scrabble to me. 

The creators of the "different" game are hoping that the changes they have made will protect them from further copyright infringements.  Brand confusion is a key point in trademark disputes.  It seems to me that they are skating on thin ice.  In a statement, Hasbro said it "will evaluate every situation individually and take actions as appropriate." 

Word of the "new" game has spread through Facebook and the application has been downloaded thousands of times but it is not yet reached the half-million people that used Scrabulous.   

Scrabulous creators release new game on Facebook
Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom
The makers of Scrabulous have released a new online word game Wordscraper – just two days after their popular version of Scrabble was removed from Facebook. ...

Scrabulous on Facebook is resurrected as Wordscraper
San Francisco Chronicle,  USA
If you're still mourning the loss of Scrabulous on Facebook, the Indian brothers who took down their beloved creation have replaced it with a new game: ...

Scrabble Scuffle
New York Times, United States
Why didn’t Hasbro buy Scrabulous instead of suing to shut down the popular online imitation of Scrabble on Facebook? ...

Scrabulous Returns from the Grave as Wordscraper
PC World
The death of Scrabulous on Facebook may have been a sad event for many, but at least it was a short-lived one. Scrabulous is back, but under a new name and ...

Scrabulous returns to Facebook  as Wordscraper
Times Online, UK
Less than two days after it was pulled from Facebook after a lawsuit, the popular online version of Scrabble - Scrabulous - has returned. ...

Retooled Scrabulous returns to Facebook  as Wordscraper
CBC.ca, Canada
Online Scrabble knock-off Scrabulous has traded in its letters, returning to the popular social network Facebook after a self-imposed exile with a new look ...

Scrabulous Founders Launch New Word Puzzle Game
Washington Post, United States
The brothers behind the popular Facebook application Scrabulous have returned with a new word puzzle game, only two days after they took ...

Scrabble knockoff returns to Facebook  with changes
The Associated Press
A popular Scrabble knockoff is back on Facebook. It comes with changes that could help it skirt copyright and trademark laws. ...

Wordscraper Is The Triumphant Return Of Scrabulous To Facebook
CRN, NY
Just days after Facebook buckled to legal pressure from Hasbro and removed the Scrabulous application from the social networking site in North America, ...

Scrabulous is back on UK Facebook
The Press Association
Thousands of online scrabble addicts were able to return to their favourite word game after the UK application of Scrabulous reappeared on Facebook. ...

Scrabulous Creators Strike Back!
TIME
The rogue Facebook application has finally met its doom. But the official Hasbro version has Josh Quittner at a loss for words The Agarwalla Brothers — the ...

Scrabulous has been replaced with Wordscraper
guardian.co.uk, UK
Scrabulous, the Scrabble-like game on Facebook, has been shut down in the US and Canada, but its creators, Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, have returned with ...