Seven Towns Infringement on eBay - All of EU

Basically seven towns owns every single configuration of the rubik's cube, if not they could scramble cubes on an specific way and sell them

I want to make this part a bit of a productive rant, based on my observations about other products in the world.

I fully support and agree that if a cube manufacturer illegally replicates a Rubik's product, and packages it as such, with the Rubik's brand logo, they are in fact stealing money from Rubik's and hurting the cubing community in general.


Let's look at this from another perspective though. Are you all familiar with the following brands: Scotch tape, Kleenex, Aspirin, Super Glue, Chapstick, Popsicles, Q-tips, Sharpie, Bic, Velcro, Bandaids, etc...

Each of these products holds the name that people are familiar with, but are not actually the product. (Scotch tape = cellophane tape, Kleenex = tissue paper, Aspirin = acetaminophen, Super Glue = cyanoacrylate, Chapstick = petroleum jelly, Popsicle = frozen treat, Q-tip = cotton swab, Sharpie = permanent marker, Bic = pen or lighter, Velcro = hook & loop, Bandaids = adhesive bandage)

Now in the rest of the rational world, brand name recognition seems to be enough to stick in peoples minds and give the credit to the original creator or brander of the product. If I ask you for an Aspirin, what I am really saying is I'm looking for a product with the same ingredients. If I get a cut, I've never asked someone for an adhesive bandage... I ask for a Bandaid.

Now with each of these products, another company has come along and found a way to improve or change the product and manufacture it with the same rights as the "branded" version. How many types of Velcro are there in the world now?

So, you take companies like Dayan or Moyu, and each of these companies have extrapolated on the original concept, but have changed it's mechanics drastically (octopus core in the Gans anyone?). We all get to experience a version of the original Rubik's product that has been tweaked to serve the need of speed cubers, but for some reason when I go to the local store to buy scotch tape, I have literally hundreds of options to serve my needs. Why can't Seven Towns understand this? Because of companies like Dayan and Moyu Rubik's reputation (and sales I'd imagine) has been improved upon... not hurt.

Without these companies, would you have ever heard of Collin Burns, Mats Valk, Feliks Zemdegs? Perhaps... and we'd all be in awe at their sub 20 second world records.

- Pixel -

I agree with you Pixel 6. But I see your point plus you all introduced a whole new thing for us Speedcubers with the new type of lube and lubeing methods. Now most cubers would say stuff like "I use Traxxas and Lubix to lube my cubes." When there referring to Silicone Diff oil type lube. Plus Ebay is a place where you can sell allot of things without any problem. With your issue of 7towns telling you what you can and can't sell is stupid. It's like saying that Tim Cook (CEO of Apple) telling electronic stores like Best Buy that they have to stop selling the Windows computers and start to only sell Apple computers.

can you sell unstickered cubes?

TPCuber said:

Wow, this is completely ridiculous. News flash Seven Towns, your puzzles are terrible and taking down all of your competition won't make them any less terrible. I would love to see them go after V-Cubes; the two ultimate mass-suers.

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No allison, it isnt worth it. The world would end in nuclear destruction.

Someone posted these on a Cubing Facebook group. Saying "Only original Rubik´s 3x3s will be sold and in and shipped to EU"

It really pisses me off to think that buying cubes in future might be a hassle.. BJ Seventown

Michael Womack said:

Someone posted these on a Cubing Facebook group. Saying "Only original Rubik´s 3x3s will be sold and in and shipped to EU"

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What is the group?

wow rubik's,
As of now I'd rather support V-cubes

ViolaBouquet said:

What is the group?

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this Speedcubing group https://www.facebook.com/groups/134247353357584/

Ordway Persyn said:

wow rubik's,
As of now I'd rather support V-cubes

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I wouldnt go that far...

Look at this article http://rubiksgift.com/rubiks-cube-media/rubiks-patent-update-rubiks-wins-biggest-legal-yet/

Probably the way to approach this would be for the community to voice their opinions via the company's official facebook page and twitter. Companies don't like this sort of stuff being in the public eye like that.

Michael Womack said:

Look at this article http://rubiksgift.com/rubiks-cube-media/rubiks-patent-update-rubiks-wins-biggest-legal-yet/

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Well, this seriously rustled my jimmies.

Zarxrax said:

Probably the way to approach this would be for the community to voice their opinions via the company's official facebook page and twitter. Companies don't like this sort of stuff being in the public eye like that.

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Well here is there FB and twitter pages.
https://www.facebook.com/Rubiksonline?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/Rubiksonline
also the Google Plus page https://plus.google.com/+rubikscube/posts

"Rubik’s continues to fight against fakes around the world, with tens of thousands destroyed each year.
Its most recent win in October is a shipment of 40,000pcs of fake Rubik’s Cubes seized by the US Customs and Border Protection." - from the rubik's website linked above.

It is strange how they are so happy with this 'accomplishment' of destroying cubes of this quantity. It makes it seem like there main goal isn't to have people enjoy the cubing community which was made possible from their 3x3x3 cube, but instead to destroy it altogether.

I feel like that Rubik's next step is going to be to copyright the word and shape "Cube"

I see a small problem here, If Noobix is saying only "original" puzzles can be distributed throughout Europe, does this mean that the V cube 3 will also be affected?

On a side note , maybe if Vcubes and Rubik's get into a huge lawsuit, they will both get shut down for pure idiocy, Maru or Moyu or somesuch will take over the consumer market for cubes. Also a Noobix vs Vcube lawsuit would be fun to watch *Grabs Popcorn*

WE ARE DOOMED! Start a rebellion!

But seriously, we should really voice our concerns on their social media pages.

This makes me a sad panda. Hopefully buying DIY gets around it. Cause then I wouldn't be buying a cube, even though it could be assembled into one.