Seven Towns Infringement on eBay - All of EU

[Dom]

That's great news! You shouldn't be able to patent a SHAPE!

 

[Cubister]

This wasn't about a patent, but a stupid trademark which contained a shape and a certain functionality.

 

[genericcuber666]

start a law suit against them (as dumb as it wseems it will work) once a cube shop fights back to 7towns since they dont have any proper reason for doing this they will lose and wont try to do this again

 

[AlphaSheep]

start a law suit against them (as dumb as it wseems it will work) once a cube shop fights back to 7towns since they dont have any proper reason for doing this they will lose and wont try to do this again

Umm... Didn't you read the previous posts before you commented?

It (isn't/wasn't) as simple as you think it (is/was). Once a cube shop (fights/fought) back, it (will take/took) over a decade for the courts to decide on the matter, and in all that time Seven Towns (won't/didn't) stop claiming that any cube that is not a Rubik's brand is an illegal infringement on their intellectual property.

Read the links posted 3 and 4 posts before yours to see whether the present or past tense is appropriate.

Spoiler: Quick summary of what actually happened

A manufacturer (Simba Toys) started legal action against Seven Towns in 2006. The legal action dragged on for 8 years, and in the end Seven Towns won and Simba Toys had to pay all legal costs for both sides (Exact opposite of what you said would happen). Simba Toys took it higher to the European Court of Justice and the Advocate General gave a non-binding opinion earlier this year that the shape was critical to the function, and the trademark was being used to protect intellectual property that should have been protected by a patent (it originally was, but the patent expired years ago). What's happened now is that the European Court of Justice has actually made a ruling that basically agrees with the opinion given back in May

Worth pointing out, as much as people don't like patents, if the patent hadn't expired, this case would likely have gone completely the other way.

 

[genericcuber666]

really? thats crazy