Rubik’s Cube owner loses EU trademark
Some 20 years ago, Rubik’s Cube was granted a trademark for the shape of the classic puzzle game, but in 2017 the EU-wide protection was canceled. The General Court of the European Union has now decided to uphold the decision to remove the trademark protection.
"Given that the essential characteristics of that shape are necessary to obtain the technical result consisting of the rotating capability of that product, that shape could not be registered as an EU trademark," the court argued, as reported by Sky News.
Rubik’s Brand Ltd. is able to appeal against the decision one final time, according to the Sky News report.
U.K.-based Seven Towns, which manages the toyʼs intellectual property rights and is connected to Rubikʼs Brand Ltd., registered the shape of the toy as a three-dimensional EU trademark with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in 1999. The latest ruling, however, means that the puzzleʼs distinctive shape alone is not enough to protect it from being copied.
More than 400 million Rubikʼs Cubes, invented by Ernő Rubik in Budapest in 1974, have been sold around the world, the report added.
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