The Rubik’s Cube has confounded millions of people, including myself since discovering it in my uncle’s house as a child. And now the iconic three-dimensional puzzle has been the subject of an EU ruling.
The device was invented in 1974 by Ernő Rubik, a Hungarian professor of architecture. Its particular and eye-catching shape, characterised by black lines and the multi-coloured grid structure, has won it several prizes and obtained significant commercial success in many countries. More than 400m cubes had been sold worldwide, making it a best-selling puzzle toy.
But the Rubik’s Cube has always been more than just a toy. It’s been the subject of mathematical studies on its relevance to group theory and one of the most famous tests of intellectual and digital dexterity. A parallel industry has mushroomed in the wake of its success: so-called speedcubing (also known as speedsolving) – the practice of trying to solve the cube’s puzzle in the shortest time possible, which has spawned many competitions around the world.
So, why has a top EU court ended up dealing with this iconic object? The answer lies in its very particular shape, which was registered as a three-dimensional trademark in the EU in 1999 by Seven Towns, the British company that manages the intellectual property rights relating to the cube. It is indeed possible to register shapes as trademarks as long as they are distinctive, namely when they help consumers understand that the product comes from a certain company and thereby ensure that consumers receive consistent quality. Coca Cola, for example, has trademarked the shape of its bottle.
But a German toy manufacturer, which was marketing cubes similar to Rubik’s Cube, Simba Toys, was not happy about the registration and sought to obtain its cancellation on the grounds that the shape of the cube related to its functionality as it allows its rotating capability, as opposed to an issue of external design. Indeed, shapes of objects that, despite being distinctive, serve a technical function cannot be registered as three-dimensional trademarks.
