Rubik's Brand lawsuit against The Cubicle

xyzzy said:
Trademark ≠ copyright ≠ patent ≠ trademark. Rubik's is suing over a trademark violation. The patent on the original Rubik's Cube expired many years ago and simple geometric shapes cannot be copyrighted.

(If you want to talk about piece internals, which nowadays really aren't simple geometric shapes, they fall under copyright insofar as the the shape does not fundamentally contribute to the functionality of the overall product, which is basically never. I assume this restriction is to prevent people from double-dipping with both copyright and patent protection.)
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Actually, internals are geometric, considering they are designed with cad programs such as solidworks or ptc creo, y'know.
 
I'm too stupid to completely understand what this thing fully states and too lazy to figure it out, but from what I understand, Rubik's is suing Thecubicle because they sell cubes that are different variants of the Rubik's Cube. Am I right or are they suing for more or different reasons.



I'm lost.
 
AidanNoogie said:
So if Rubik's wins will they go after speedcubeshop next?
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It makes you wonder. Now, if all the lawsuit entailed was the Cubicle manufacturing cubes, that would be one thing, they could cease and desist, but it looks like the scope of the lawsuit is well beyond this. Imo, it's stupid. It probably began with the brand being unable to go after the manufacturers in China, evolved to them closing down the production of the Duncan brand cube, and now they're going after the retailers. Ridiculous!

And I think it might be worth noting that it's highly unlikely Prof. Rubik has a thing to do with this. His brand is owned by a separate entity and I doubt he has much if any input.

The end result may be a terrible outcome: people disliking Rubik himself, though he's blameless; the end of commercially available custom cubes; the end of sponsored cubing events, and ultimately, the possible end of cubing as we now know it, all because of the greediness of a trade mark holder.

Ultimately we'll all lose if they get their way. And it's certainly going to be difficult for the enthusiasm we all have for cubing to rebound after this lawsuit gets going and the results are made final.
 
saxnbass said:
Just ran across this little nugget; the document was dated yesterday.

https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public...Enterprises_LLC_Docket_No_117cv078?1507841795

Thoughts?
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16, using this logic, couldn't Ford as a company sue every other car manufacturer or retailer because they originally made the car?

One Wheel said:
I find points 21, and 37 and following to be highly suspect. Those claims will be, it seems to me, VERY difficult to prove in court. I think ultimately they're really just testing their trademark in US court. I think they lost a similar case in the UK last year?
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Yes, the cubicle is obviously trying to sell us all trashy rubik's brands
 
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DMCubing said:
It makes you wonder. Now, if all the lawsuit entailed was the Cubicle manufacturing cubes, that would be one thing, they could cease and desist, but it looks like the scope of the lawsuit is well beyond this. Imo, it's stupid. It probably began with the brand being unable to go after the manufacturers in China, evolved to them closing down the production of the Duncan brand cube, and now they're going after the retailers. Ridiculous!

And I think it might be worth noting that it's highly unlikely Prof. Rubik has a thing to do with this. His brand is owned by a separate entity and I doubt he has much if any input.

The end result may be a terrible outcome: people disliking Rubik himself, though he's blameless; the end of commercially available custom cubes; the end of sponsored cubing events, and ultimately, the possible end of cubing as we now know it, all because of the greediness of a trade mark holder.

Ultimately we'll all lose if they get their way. And it's certainly going to be difficult for the enthusiasm we all have for cubing to rebound after this lawsuit gets going and the results are made final.
Click to expand...

Stop being so dramatic lmao. the RSC isn't that bad, dude.
 
Competition Cuber said:
I wonder what the court will be like with all these cuber terms and stuff, and everyone else being a non cuber.
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"This company thinks their cubes gets them PB ao5s and ao12s, when really it's just because their Cross and F2L stages of CFOP are improving simultaneously. Everyone thinks Feliks Zemdegs got the YTUWR with the defendants 3x3 but it only looks like that because he's colour neutral and he changed the colour scheme and GES nuts. It's actually our half brights scoring him the WRs and OcRs.

Is your PB sub skewb WR, your honour?
 
Would stickerless cubes still be infringement? I know that Rubik's, if they succeed, could only block 2x2s through 5x5's (although V-cubes and Mefferts could use the same strategy if Rubik's wins). I suspect that Rubik's claim violates anti-monopoly rules in someway. Because if Rubik's succeeds, they would legally have the ability to shut down any competitors. This is one area where I think their case will fall apart. As well as that TheCubicle has never claimed that the cubes they sell are official Rubik's brand products.

I know very little about law so you should not take my post as a serious defense or anything of the nature, and I very well may be wrong about many aspects, so please correct anything I got wrong.
 
Mellis Ferton said:
(answer to B) I've heard people say it's because of the tiles. Also, they can't change their color scheme/shades and make it their own.

(answer to A) Most likely because it is part of the Gans Air cubes, which in itself is popular.
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It's not just the tiles. The cube isn't bad, I've tried it, but it isn't close to the SM or Valk or GTS2. It's just decent.
 
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