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Rajat and Jayant Aggarwalla have blocked access to their Scrabulous Facebook app for US and Canadian users, according to this NY Times article called Scrabulous Barred to North American Users and anAssociated Press article called Popular Scrabble knockoff suspended on Facebook. There are lots of blog posts available, including my own billso.com post called Scrabble vs Scrabulous, Mashable’s Actually, Scrabulous Shut Themselves Down. Sort of., eFlux Media’s Scrabulous is no more and Marketing Shift’s Facebook Shutters Scrabulous; Hasboro Smiles. (Note: the spelling error was made by Marketing Shift, not me.)

It sounds like Facebook asked the brothers to take this step, after multiple requests from Hasbro.

Some Facebook users really need a lesson on copyright as well. Scrabulous may be fun, but the online groups that are defending the game are displaying their ignorance and contempt for intellectual property laws. It wouldn’t surprise me if many of Facebook Scrabulous players also downloaded unlicensed movies, songs and books from peer-to-peer services. I disucssed textbook downloading on yesterday’s billso.com post called A torrent of textbooks.

Perhaps some Scrabulous users will actually try to play Scrabble in real life, while Hasbro and Electronic Arts try to get their licensed Facebook Scrabble app to run in a reliable manner.

I’m a big fan of fair use and the Creative Commons, but I really hope Hasbro and Mattel pursue their court cases. The brothers are several weak arguments in their defense, and have shown poor judgment by collecting advertising revenue from their web site.  A settlement would set an ugly precedent, and encourage more developers to create unlicensed versions of copyrighted works.

Related posts on billso.com

• Copyright and fair use
• Creative Commons
• 8 July 2008: Scrabble vs Scrabulous
• 11 March 2008: Widgets won’t work without a plan
• 25 February 2008: Social media 101
• 19 February 2008: Social media gets too sticky
• 4 February 2008: Better than free
• 28 January 2008: Crazy money
• 3 January 2008: Impression management and Facebook
• 5 October 2007: What’s wrong with copyright
• 17 July 2007: A quick explanation of copyright law
• 10 August 2007: Forty-somethings flock to Facebook
• 20 June 2007: Facebook vs MySpace
• 29 September 2006: US copyright law in verse
• 5 August 2006: Isolated Americans trying to connect

Sunday, 1 June 2008, was the 100th anniversary of the first sale doctrine in the US.

As I’ve mentioned before in this billso.com article on 24 March 2008, the first sale doctrine allows someone who buys a book to resell it or pass it along as they see fit.

This important principle of US copyright law applies to other media, too. Last month, a Federal court upheld the rights of eBay sellers to vend software, according to this Ars Technia article. First sale allows people to resell or give away CDs, DVDs and other works that they purchased.

Creative Commons licenses allow users to share and adapt applicable works, which is an excellent extension of the first sale doctrine.

See this article in Everybody’s Libraries for more details

Related pages on billso.com

• Copyright and fair use
• Creative Commons

We use a Creative Commons license scheme at billso.com.

The license is embedded in every page of the site, and there is a link at the bottom of each page.

In short, anyone can use content from billso.com as long as the following conditions are met:

1. Provide attribution to billso.com - give us some credit for what we wrote and posted, without implying that billso.com endorses your work.
2. Remix and adaption are allowed. Again, give us credit!
3. Sharing, copying and redistributing our content is OK, but include a link back to the billso.com URL where the content is posted.

Related tags on billso.com

• copyright
• fair-use
• piracy

Related pages on billso.com

• Copyright and fair use
• Digital music

Related articles on billso.com

• 3 June 2008: 100 years of first sale
• 14 March 2008: Social media in action
• 21 February 2008: Copyright and fair use
• 4 February 2008: Better than free
• 15 October 2007: What’s wrong with copyright?
• 19 July 2007: A quick explanation of copyright law
• 26 May 2007: Cory Doctorow’s PWNED class finishes the term

I’ve written several articles about copyright and fair use.

Related tags on billso.com

• copyright
• Creative Commons
• fair-use
• piracy

Related pages on billso.com

• Creative Commons
• Digital music

Related articles on billso.com

• 16 July 2008: Apple can stop the Open Computer
• 8 July 2008: Scrabble vs Scrabulous
• 15 June 2006: The Associated Press and fair use on the Web
• 3 June 2008: 100 years of first sale
• 15 May 2008: Download that movie, lose your home
• 15 April 2008: Can Apple stop the Open Computer?
• 10 April 2008: Media giants want to end US fair use doctrine
• 24 March 2008: The used electronic textbook
• 14 March 2008: Social media in action
• 21 February 2008: Copyright and fair use
• 4 February 2008: Better than free
• 15 October 2007: What’s wrong with copyright?
• 19 July 2007: A quick explanation of copyright law
• 24 January 2007: More thoughts on cheating, copyright and paraphrasing
• 23 January 2007: Cheating is copyright infringement?
• 29 September 2006: US copyright law - in verse
• 15 August 2004: American Library Association promotes fair use
• 9 June 2004: Carmine Infantino wants his Flash back
• 28 June 2003: Harry Potter and the copyright wars
• 27 June 2003: Sue your best customers

Scott Clark asked a question on LinkedIn earlier this week:

I’m putting together a magazine article about how arenas/venues may use social media, such as blogs, twitter, facebook in innovative ways.

I’ve discussed some of these issues in previous blog posts, which I’ve listed at the end of this page. So I wrote a response and posted it to LinkedIn on Tuesday.

Scott has published an article about live events and social media, so I am reposting my response to his LinkedIn question:

Live blogging at a conference makes more sense to me, simply because computer usage and Internet access are much more common at academic and professional events than at performances.Many performance and sporting venues have posted rules about mobile phones and cameras, partly because of intellectual property issues and contractual obligations. Mobile blogging through smartphones and PDAs is the only practical way to implement social media interaction at these events.

These restrictions are also in place to minimize disturbances and distractions for the audience and the performers. It might be interesting to see a real-time Twitter display of comments during an event, but would everyone want to see that information? Would the performers want to limit access?

Because “big name artists” tend to use established business models, including the recording industry and concert venues, these artists have limited room for innovation with social media.

Artists who use a more open license such as Creative Commons might welcome and encourage audience interaction and moblogging as part of the event. As more musicians decide to release their own music online, some will embrace social media as an essential part of their marketing and community-building plans.

Another exception might involve visual and performance art. Event sponsors could invite and encourage attendees and exhibitors to moblog their comments, as long as the participants accept the event’s licensing scheme. Social media can provide a means for real-time transcribing and recording an audience’s reaction to a gallery opening or museum exhibit.

I’m assuming that in all of these examples there are some content filters in place. Event sponsors usually don’t want guerrilla marketers to post or send comments that promote a rival brand. Local regulations might punish event sponsors if the moblog included indecent or illegal content.

Collegiate sports are a case in point. During the current basketball season, mainstream journalists and sports bloggers have student sections at several universities for rude and unsportsmanlike behavior. Taunting, intimidation and name calling happen at sporting events and on social media every day. While most collegiate athletic departments hold themselves at arms length from Facebook groups and blogs, these departments always have some interaction with student sections at the actual events.

Related posts

• 25 February 2008: Social Media 101
• 10 August 2007: Forty-somethings flock to Facebook
• 4 June 2007: Illinois high school holds diplomas after crowd celebrates
• 5 August 2006: Isolated Americans are trying to connect