What the Seven Towns Copyright Covers

sneaklyfox said:
Perhaps on the WCA website under rankings, the event "Rubik's Cube" should be changed to simply "3x3 Cube".
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This. I've always wondered why it's 2x2, Rubik's cube, 4x4, 5x5, etc. It just doesn't make much sense, besides the fact that it's the original cube.
 
sneaklyfox said:
Perhaps on the WCA website under rankings, the event "Rubik's Cube" should be changed to simply "3x3 Cube".
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And what would this actually achieve?

The thing is, 7towns have to enforce any breaches in copyright, or they lose the licence. What happened with the package is that it had to have been opened by customs, and then 7towns were contacted because it had cubes in. 7towns aren't actively scanning packages for cubes and they most likely don't want to, as they are happy enough to leave speedcubing alone as it is basically free advertising for them, and the system currently works. This is an isolated incident that has causes some serious necroposting in related threads which is beginning to stir up a lot of animosity that just isn't necessary.

TL;DR: Drop it, It's probably not going to happen again.
 
When can I get a cyoubx 3x3? Screw this copyright stuff... this horse isn't getting any deader.

Edit: forgot to mention a Rubik's cube is $9.97 at Walmart in the US. :P
 
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I'm just curious on how the V-brand gets along with this so easily. Hell, they aren't trying to make speedcubes. They are trying to take over the brand and name of Rubiks cubes.

And THEORETICALLY if they gave a **** about the so called copyright infringements, would it only apply to the cubes that Rubiks has made, aka 3x3 to 5x5? 3x3 to 5x5 DIY I can manage, but I dont want any bigger wants to be sent in pieces unless I especially ask for it ,_,
 
MaeLSRoM. That has to enforce copyright and trademark or they lose it is exactly it. Unfortunately that's true of trademarks but not copyright

Erno Rubik chose to patent his cube and then he had to fight a great number times to get some respect regarding that. Some courts perhaps in a bit of nativism (Japan) told him no patent protection. The patent lived the course of it's life and now Seven Town supposedly bought the copyright and trademark is choosing to enforce copyright and trademarks after soo many years of dormancy?

Trademark I think is gone. It wasn't enforced. Rubik's cube is generic word for this type of puzzle. If it were tested it might have a Kleenex problem.

Copyright is the valid issue to be talking about. What people shouldn't do is assume everything a corporation says regarding their copyright is true. Next thing you know restaurants will be extorted for singing happy birthday and we will all allow a horrific copyfraud to flourish.

Copyright is slanted in favor of creators. Companies come by and pay the creators some amount of money then use the copyright they have bought as a huge weapon. It's a very effective one. Lets not be too casual with it. Copyright covers something a simple and expressive as a child's drawing. In a Rubik's cube the genius was in the spherical mechanism in a square cube. The stickers are labels. They are functional and have become standardized. Are they expressive at all? Is their arrangement that fantastic and expressive that it merits lifetime of legal protection?

Seven Town didn't buy the moral rights. I'm very certain you can't even sell those in the EU so I wish people would stop giving the company moral authority over the product.
 
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The trademark Rubik's is definitely still valid. I put up a T-Shirt design on Zazzle, and just because it contained the word Rubik's in the description, it was taken down because of copyright infringement. And Zazzle allows a lot of stuff, so my guess is that Seven Towns requested it, and Zazzle had to obey the law.
 
PeelingStickers said:
I just don't see why they have to do this now
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What do you mean, "now"? Are they doing anything now that they haven't consistently been doing for a long long time?

SenileGenXer said:
after soo many years of dormancy?
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The ****?!

SenileGenXer said:
In a Rubik's cube the genius was in the spherical mechanism in a square cube.
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It's cylindrical, not spherical (at least in *the* Rubik's cube, their 3x3x3).
Plus Fox's 3x3x3 actually had a spherical mechanism and came years before Rubik (Gustafson's mech was spherical as well and came several more years earlier, though it was a 2x2x2).
Yeah ok, you said "in a square cube", though I think the "genius" was the mechanism. Extending the outside is trivial.

kinch2002 said:
They don't stop small shipments of cubes that you order through the post from China
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I've seen a case where someone ordered a 2x2, a 3x3 and a 3x3x2 and got threatened with legal action if they don't practically immediately agree to their destruction.

BrainOfSweden said:
my guess is that Seven Towns requested it, and Zazzle had to obey the law.
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Or... Seven Towns requested it, and Zazzle just doesn't want to take the risk.
 
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MaeLSTRoM said:
TL;DR: Drop it, It's probably not going to happen again.
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Oh, it'll happen again (and again and again). Unless someone convinces Seven Towns to be reasonable, of course.

BrainOfSweden said:
The trademark Rubik's is definitely still valid. I put up a T-Shirt design on Zazzle, and just because it contained the word Rubik's in the description, it was taken down because of copyright infringement. And Zazzle allows a lot of stuff, so my guess is that Seven Towns requested it, and Zazzle had to obey the law.
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It was taken down because of copyright infringement? Unless you had an image of the cube there, that doesn't make sense. You can't copyright a word.
 
qqwref said:
It was taken down because of copyright infringement? Unless you had an image of the cube there, that doesn't make sense. You can't copyright a word.
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You can copyright a lot of things: Logos, melodies, slogans. Bikram yoga even copyrighted their sequence of yoga poses.

Also, remember that seven towns makes their profits from casual solvers. I think they see the influx of cheaper, better quality copies from China and elsewhere as a threat to cut in to that market, and they're using whatever legal methods they have at their disposal to cut off the expansion of other brand cubes. They probably couldn't care less about the speedcubing community, since they can't convince anyone here to buy from them. Right now, we're just caught in the crossfire.
 
windhero said:
I'm just curious on how the V-brand gets along with this so easily. Hell, they aren't trying to make speedcubes. They are trying to take over the brand and name of Rubiks cubes.

And THEORETICALLY if they gave a **** about the so called copyright infringements, would it only apply to the cubes that Rubiks has made, aka 3x3 to 5x5? 3x3 to 5x5 DIY I can manage, but I dont want any bigger wants to be sent in pieces unless I especially ask for it ,_,
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I think it is as easy as "V-Cubes don't mention Rubik's and they have a black face"

Basically, the Rubik's image is claimed to be so much a cultural influence that it can be protected. Very similar to "Only Disney can make Donald Duck movies". However, you can make a parody or a movie with another Duck that is wearing a pink shirt and is called Ronald.
 
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