I was thoroughly miffed the day I realized that I couldn’t get to work late sign into my Facebook account and shoot the shit with a quick two hour game of Scrabulous anymore. And now employees in the UK are feeling that same pain. According the Brand Republic, those killjoys over a Mattel have put the kibosh on the game there too after filing a trademark infringement lawsuit against the game designing brothers, Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, that created the Facebook version (they made a formal request that it be removed in the US and Canada last month). This can’t possibly be a smart brand move. Can it? I mean it might not have brand damaging effects, but it’s certain to put a bad taste in the mouths of consumers. Which begs the question- What would have been the smarter move for Mattel in this situation? Surely they could have found there opportunity to capatilize on that seemingly new found market. It’s not as if the Facebook generation is running to their nearest Walmart to stock up on board games. This could have been their chance to take their brand in a slightly different direction. First stop Facebook. Next stop Wii. Missed opportunity?