page_title: Pocket Cube
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Pocket Cube / History
caption_attribution_description: English: From left to right: original Pocket Cube, Eastsheen cube, V-Cube 2, V-Cube 2b.
context_page_description: The Pocket Cube is the 2×2×2 equivalent of a Rubik's Cube. The cube consists of 8 pieces, all corners.
context_section_description: In March 1970, Larry D. Nichols invented a 2×2×2 "Puzzle with Pieces Rotatable in Groups" and filed a Canadian patent application for it. Nichols's cube was held together with magnets. Nichols was granted U.S. Patent 3,655,201 on April 11, 1972, two years before Rubik invented his Cube.
  Nichols assigned his patent to his employer Moleculon Research Corp., which sued Ideal in 1982. In 1984, Ideal lost the patent infringement suit and appealed. In 1986, the appeals court affirmed the judgment that Rubik's 2×2×2 Pocket Cube infringed Nichols's patent, but overturned the judgment on Rubik's 3×3×3 Cube.
caption: Solved versions of, from left to right: original Pocket Cube, Eastsheen cube, V-Cube 2, V-Cube 2b.
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