When Facebook brought Scrabulous to its users in 2007, it was an instant hit and became one of its ten most popular applications. But what were its developers thinking when they released an application identical with Scrabble without talking to the copyright owners first? Anything but legal matters apparently, as Mattel and Hasbro, the joint owners of Scrabble, demanded the removal of Scrabulous from the website due to copyright infringement.

Facebook is not responsible for developing the online game, whose authors are Calcutta-based entrepreneurs Rajat and Jayant Agrawalla, however, it is responsible for hosting and promoting it. Even odder is the fact that the developers didn’t even bother to change the color schemes or the rules of the game, linking them to the Scrabble Wikipedia page.

The toy makers that own Scrabble have expressed their discontent in a Forbes interview: “Letters have been sent to Facebook in the United States regarding the Scrabulous application… Mattel values its intellectual property and actively protects its brands and trademarks.” For the time being, the two companies have not announced any legal action in this case.

On the other hand, Facebook can’t deny the allegations, but Scrabulous fans can most certainly express their disapproval with the toy makers asking for the online game to be pulled out. Thousands of letter, e-mails and phone calls have been sent to Mattel and Hasbro, asking for permission to preserve the game.

Over 12,000 fans have created the “Save Scrabulous” online movement, with the sole purpose of convincing the Scrabble owners to allow Scrabulous to continue on Facebook, despite the obvious copyright infringements. Some even go further and say if it hadn’t been for the online game, they wouldn’t have been tempted to go out and buy the original Scrabble game.

For the time being, the matter still remains under discussion, and until Facebook and the joint venture Mattel and Hasbro are able to reach an agreement, the fans will continue to overwhelm them with thousands of requests, continuing to support their favorite online application.