It’s not that easy to play a decent online game of Scrabble these days without having to worry that the moment you’ll become addicted, it might disappear for copyright infringement issues. This is probably the feeling all Scrabulous fans had when they found out that Mattel and Hasbro, the joint owners of Scrabble – the real one – demanded the removal of the online game from Facebook.

No worries though, as Scrabble on Facebook will turn legit, with Hasbro’s blessing and Electronic Arts’ contribution. The company announced on Monday that a Scrabble application will become available as of this month for the Facebook community. Until then, Scrabble enthusiasts can try the game on the portal Pogo.com.

EA isn’t at its first collaboration with Hasbro, but Scrabble will be the first game to reach beyond the iPod, onto a social networking site. The iPod already benefits from applications brought by EA and licensed by Hasbro, such as Scrabble, Monopoly or Yahtzee.

The move could also be explained through a common goal of the two partners: to sink Scrabulous, the game that quickly managed to become very popular on Facebook, despite the obvious copyright infringements. When Facebook brought Scrabulous to its users in 2007, it was an instant hit and became one of its ten most popular applications.

Scrabulous, created and developed by Calcutta-based entrepreneurs Rajat and Jayant Agrawalla, made toy makers express a high discontent regarding the online application of the game, despite angry fans arguing that if it hadn’t been for the online game, they wouldn’t have bought the original game in the first place.

Despite the repeated demands to remove the game from the social networking site, the situation remains the same, and it seems that Scrabble owners now have to fight fire with fire and make Scrabulous unpopular in front of a new competitor, the legit EA Scrabble.

According to EA Hasbro general manager Chip Lange, Scrabble is “one of the best social game brands in existence” and they are working on ensuring an enjoyable experience for friends and family regardless of the platform they’re playing.