TheCubicle.us Legal Fund
Donation protected
Hello everyone, we are TheCubicle.us .
We are a young e-commerce store in New York that specializes in high quality twisty puzzles. Over the years, we’ve served thousands of customers, sponsored events and competitions, pioneered new innovations in cube design, and have grown very close to our wonderful cubing/puzzling community. We were shocked to learn that a company as large as Rubik’s Brand Limited (“Rubik’s”) took issue with our success.
Rubik’s filed a lawsuit against us in October of 2017, claiming trademark infringement and unfair competition. This lawsuit threatened to shut down our business, destroying the livelihoods of our employees and their ability to support the community. Our analysis revealed that Rubik’s claims were unsubstantiated, and that its trademarks were invalid for a number of reasons. However, this did not stop Rubik’s from using the threat of a stressful and resource-intensive legal battle to achieve its ends.
Because of Rubik’s monopolistic demands, bullying tactics, and leveraging of invalid trademark rights, our company took action in court to cancel Rubik’s trademarks on the basis of utilitarian functionality, genericness, and fraud, as well as to seek treble damages for various antitrust violations related to trademark misuse and attempted and actual monopolization. We also requested a declaratory judgment that TheCubicle has not violated Rubik’s purported federal and state trademark rights.
However, even despite confidence in our claims, litigation is an expensive and exhausting process. Often, the party with the most money can control the outcome. With your help, we can continue to move forward to protect our company and our community. Thank you so, so much for any support you can give.
We are a young e-commerce store in New York that specializes in high quality twisty puzzles. Over the years, we’ve served thousands of customers, sponsored events and competitions, pioneered new innovations in cube design, and have grown very close to our wonderful cubing/puzzling community. We were shocked to learn that a company as large as Rubik’s Brand Limited (“Rubik’s”) took issue with our success.
Rubik’s filed a lawsuit against us in October of 2017, claiming trademark infringement and unfair competition. This lawsuit threatened to shut down our business, destroying the livelihoods of our employees and their ability to support the community. Our analysis revealed that Rubik’s claims were unsubstantiated, and that its trademarks were invalid for a number of reasons. However, this did not stop Rubik’s from using the threat of a stressful and resource-intensive legal battle to achieve its ends.
Because of Rubik’s monopolistic demands, bullying tactics, and leveraging of invalid trademark rights, our company took action in court to cancel Rubik’s trademarks on the basis of utilitarian functionality, genericness, and fraud, as well as to seek treble damages for various antitrust violations related to trademark misuse and attempted and actual monopolization. We also requested a declaratory judgment that TheCubicle has not violated Rubik’s purported federal and state trademark rights.
However, even despite confidence in our claims, litigation is an expensive and exhausting process. Often, the party with the most money can control the outcome. With your help, we can continue to move forward to protect our company and our community. Thank you so, so much for any support you can give.
Organizer and beneficiary
Phil Yu
Organizer
Elmsford, NY
James Chang
Beneficiary
