software licensing european-union human-rights
Rubik&#39;s cube image rights EU court decision
<p>In February 2016, I have asked a question (<a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/6923/rubiks-cube-image-rights">Rubik&#39;s cube image rights</a>) regarding image rights of Rubik's Cube. In short - I have developed an Android application allowing user to solve Rubik's Cube, but Rubik's Brand Ltd. (<a href="https://www.rubiksbrand.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.rubiksbrand.com</a>) refused me to publish it at that time.</p>

<p>Time passed, and recently, I have found that EU court decided that Rubik's Cube shape is not a trademark:</p>

<p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37938454" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37938454</a></p>

<p><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/rubiks-cube-shape-not-trademark-patent-eu-court-battle-a7410141.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/rubiks-cube-shape-not-trademark-patent-eu-court-battle-a7410141.html</a></p>

<p>My question then is - can I now safely publish my application on Google Play?
I am not a lawyer, so please be patient with me if I am asking nonsense. :-)</p>

<p>The question is unanswerable. You can read the ruling <a href="http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&amp;docid=185244&amp;pageIndex=0&amp;doclang=EN&amp;mode=req&amp;dir=&amp;occ=first&amp;part=1&amp;cid=873557" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>, and if there's something that you don't understand you can pose a factual question that someone might be able to answer. If you were wondering if the lower court's decision was overturned, yes, it was. If you are wondering what Article <a href="https://wipolex.wipo.int/en/text/126861" rel="nofollow noreferrer">7(1)(e)(ii) of Regulation No 40/94</a> is, we might be able to explain that. It is impossible to say whether a particular action is legally safe, at least not here. There is more to IP law than trademark.</p>

<p>In fact the point of SE is to give free <em>factual information</em>, and not advise people what they should or can safely do. That is the line that can't be crossed: it would be illegal to give you legal advice.</p>
