Hasbro sues Scrabulous creators

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Toy maker Hasbro Inc said on Thursday it filed a suit against the creators of the online game Scrabulous, saying it infringes on Hasbro's Scrabble intellectual property rights.

The suit, filed in the Southern District of New York, names Scrabulous creators the brothers Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla, and RJ Softwares as the defendants, Hasbro said.

RJ Softwares, an IT solutions provider, cites its hand in the launch of Scrabulous on its Web site.

Hasbro, the world's No. 2 toy company, also said it sent a notice to Facebook, the social networking site that hosts the Scrabulous game, requesting they remove the application in the United States and Canada as soon as possible.

Facebook could not be reached immediately for comment. An e-mail sent to Scrabulous was not answered immediately.

Hasbro owns the rights to Scrabble in North America, a spokesman confirmed, while rival Mattel Inc owns the rights to the popular board game in the rest of world.

Hasbro had sent a note to Facebook earlier this year asking it to remove the Scrabulous application, and decided to file a suit against Scrabulous' creators after launching a legitimate Scrabble version on the social networking site earlier this month, a spokesman said.

"We view the Scrabulous application as clear and blatant infringement of our Scrabble intellectual property, and we are pursuing this legal action in accordance with the interests of our shareholders, and the integrity of the Scrabble brand," Hasbro's General Counsel Barry Nagler said in a statement.

Scrabulous was launched in July 2006, according to its Web site.

(Reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman; additional reporting by Nicole Maestri; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Phil Berlowitz)