TRADEMARK | The EU General Court on the invalidity of the ‘Rubik’s cube’ trademarks

On 9 July 2025, the General Court of the European Union (the GC) issued its judgments in cases T-1170/23, T-1171/23, T-1172/23 and T-1173/23, dismissing the company Spin Master Toys UK’s actions against the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). Indeed, between 2008 and 2012, the company had registered four EU shape trademarks for “three-dimensional puzzles” covering the shape of the Rubik’s cube. In 2013, however, the company Verdes Innovations sought the invalidity of the above signs and the EUIPO had upheld these invalidity applications, finding that the colours of the squares on each face of the cube were an essential characteristic of the trademarks, formed an integral part of their shape and were necessary to obtain a technical result, concluding in essence, that the trademarks at issue had been registered contrary to EU law. The GC confirmed this approach, holding that the six basic colours applied to the cube’s faces merely served to distinguish the different squares. Namely, according to the GC, the technical function of this characteristic was to make it possible to distinguish, by means of a contrasting effect, each face of the cube, as well as each of the small squares of the grid structure appearing on each of those faces. The GC concluded that the trademark consisted exclusively of functional shapes and were therefore not registrable.

Newsletter n. 110 – August/September 2025