Can Scrabulous Spell L-A-W-S-U-I-T?

Scrabulous, the carbon clone of popular board game Scrabble, has been available to Facebook users since 2006. It draws an impressive 500,000 daily average users and nets the three Indian founders a cool $25,000 in advertisement revenues a month.

But if Hasbro, official trademark holder of Scrabble, has its way, the good times may not last. Hasbro has filed a lawsuit against Scrabulous in the Southern Court of New York and it is likely that the clone will have to accept defeat and be removed.

Hasbro had been ignoring Scrabulous despite its phenomenal success since Hasbro had no competing Facebook application of its own. But now that a licensing agreement with Electronic Arts has come through, there is an official Scrabble game on Facebook as well as alternative online platforms. At present, the official version of Scrabble draws a paltry 20,000 users. Hasbro is obviously hoping that avid fans can be transplanted from Scrabulous to Scrabble without too much additional effort.

Of course, Hasbro's alliance with Electronic Arts means that more games like Monopoly and Operation Mania (think playing the role of a surgeon) will be coming soon to a PC near you. This should keep plenty of casual gamers happy.