The owner of the world-famous Rubik’s Cube has lost the right to the EU trade mark, it has been revealed.
The dispute comes after rival toymaker Simba Toys lodged a petition to cancel the European trade mark in 2006, arguing that the toy should be given patent protection instead.
While a lower EU court ruled in favour of trade mark holder Rubik’s Brand in 2014, a higher court agreed with Simba Toys on appeal in 2017.
Handing down the latest decision this month, the General Court of the European Union upheld the appeal that the “essential characteristics” of the cube’s shape were “necessary” to achieve the rotating capability of the product, and therefore not eligible to be registered as a trade mark.
While the distinguishing features of a product or brand can be trade marked under European intellectual property law, technical solutions or functional characteristics cannot be.
The Rubik’s Brand group launched the first Rubik’s Cube in 1974 in Budapest, and has since sold more than 400 million copies around the world.
However, the latest ruling suggests that the eminent puzzle toy can no longer maintain a “monopoly” on the rotating cubic shape.
Commenting on the dispute in 2016, David Kremer, president of Rubik’s Brand, said: “We are baffled that the court finds functionality or a technical solution implicit in the trade mark.”
Speaking this week, however, the upper court said: “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 trade mark.”
Rubik’s Brand can appeal the ruling one last time.
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