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From: "David Byrden" <David@Byrden.com>
To: <Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu>
Subject: Rubik lawyers up in arms over website
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 14:37:00 -0000

        I have a website at

        http://Byrden.com/puzzles/

where I keep playable versions of many
varieties of cube, pyramid, dodecahedron,
etc etc. All of them are built in Java
and have an "undo" button allowing you
to explore your moves.

        The site was titled "The Rubik Gallery"
in honour of Erno Rubik. It explicitly said
that there was no further connection with him.

        I got a letter from a Washington
firm of lawyers about a week ago, saying
that they were the advisers to Seven Towns
Limited, holders of the 'Rubik' trademark.
The site was "diluting" the value of the
trademark and causing "customer confusion".
I was engaging in "unfair competition"
(despite not selling or distributing anything
or taking any money or having any advertising
on the site).

        Not only did they want the word 'Rubik'
removed from the website, they wanted one of
the Java puzzles removed as well. They called it
an "electronic version of the RUBIK'S CUBE".
Fair enough, being a hexahedron sliced into 26
equal parts it bore a certian visual resemblance,
but obviously there was none of their mechanism
involved. It was all brand-new software.

        Anyway, I took it off, and they seem happy
enough now. But...does anyone know what company
owns the rights to the 4x4 cube?


                                David Byrden