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It’s a sad fact of modern life that whenever a popular, successful and desirable product comes onto the market, somebody, somewhere will try to copy it.
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Toy products don’t come much more successful than the Rubik Cube (300 million copies sold to date). And with everyone currently going Cube-crazy again (9 million copies are projected to be sold worldwide during 2007) it’s really no surprise that over the years, illegal copies of the ever-popular puzzle have been known to find their way into the marketplace.
Not only do these fake Cubes deprive legitimate licensees and retailers of their rightful income but they cheat the customer also: badly made imitations can never work as well as the Professor’s ingenious original. |
London-based Seven Towns Ltd. holds the worldwide rights in the trademarks, copyrights and the overall image of the Rubik’s Cube® on behalf of Professor Rubik. ‘Passing off’ of ‘look-alike’ cubes is simply not acceptable to the company, which works closely with customs authorities, trading standards officers and the police throughout the world… to stop fake goods reaching the consumer marketplace.
Rubbishing the fake Rubik’s Cubes
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The Customs and Border Protection Team in Long Beach, California seized a consignment of almost 100,000 counterfeit Rubik’s Cubes and key chains en route from Tapei City in Taiwan recently (our picture illustrates what a crushing blow this was to the companies involved).
Other substantial ‘busts’ have included 14,000 Cubes seized in the UK; 7,000 promotional Cubes from Hong Kong seized in Dallas, Texas; 18,000 key chains from Taiwan seized in California; almost 20,000 pieces (in two successful operations) from China in Washington – and 30,000 pieces from Taiwan in Seattle. |
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“We’re dedicated to stamping out all forms of counterfeiting” says David Hedley Jones, the worldwide director of the Rubik Brand.
“Brand enforcement is a way of life these days” he continues. “It is becoming more and more essential to attack both the supply and the demand for fake goods, and we also work closely with our licensee partners in over 30 countries to ensure that our mutual global protection and enforcement strategies are robust and co-ordinated."
“In this way we safeguard both our intellectual property and the creative development of the Rubik’s brand for future generations to experience and enjoy to the full.” | |
