Re-innovating the Rubik’s Cube

Remember the Rubik’s Cube, the toy that every British schoolboy had to have in the early 80s, alongside a copy of The Beano? I thought it had gone the way of the Dodo, until I saw it on the front page of the Wall Street Journal this morning. The gist of James Hookway’s article is about the fascination in competitive speed-cubing, and the challenges on the cube designers to produce models that keep up. It seems that rather than use the original Rubik’s cube, distributed by London-based company Seven Towns, competitors are turning to Chinese-made alternatives. Or knock-offs, as the WSJ article describes them. Now here’s the conundrum that James identifies: should Seven Towns crack down on copyright theft and preserve its intellectual property? Or ride the wave of speed-cubing that the newer, faster models have encouraged.

Tricky one, and not for me to judge. Not least because it’s not my intellectual property that’s at issue. But a good example of how innovation inspires consumer demand, and sales all round. And an interesting conclusion that while Seven Towns is spending significant amounts of money pursuing its legal interests, Mr Rubik is busy developing a newer, faster model. Presumably, it doesn’t even need batteries or USB connection. And it seems I can still get The Beano too…