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Lost for words: Facebook may lose Scrabulous

  • Story Highlights
  • Facebook asked to remove Scrabble-style application from its Web site
  • Manufacturers Hasbro and Mattel claim application violates copyright
  • Mattel's UK office: Scrabulous was created by an outside firm in India
  • Facebook is the UK's most popular social networking site
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Popular social networking site Facebook has been asked to remove the Scrabulous game from its Web site by the makers of Scrabble, agencies have reported.

Facebook's Scrabulous application may have to go after the makers of Scrabble complained.

Hasbro and Mattel jointly wrote to the site's U.S. headquarters, calling for the game to be pulled, citing copyright issues, the UK's Press Association has said.

Mattel released a statement saying: "Letters have been sent to Facebook in the U.S. regarding the Scrabulous application.

"Mattel values its intellectual property and actively protects its brands and trademarks.

"As Mattel owns the rights to the Scrabble trademark outside the U.S. and Canada we are currently reviewing our position regarding other countries."

Hasbro owns the rights to the game in the U.S. and Canada.

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According to Mattel's UK office, the online version of the popular board game was created by a third-party organization based in India.

Facebook surpassed MySpace and Bebo as the UK's most popular social networking site just last year with more than half a million daily users.

The official Scrabble Web site says that more than 100 million sets of the game have been sold in 29 different languages in 121 countries worldwide since its launch in 1948. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

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