LEGO Group Loses Trademark on the LEGO Brick

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LEGO Group Loses Trademark on the LEGO Brick

Post by Toys N Bricks » Wed Sep 15, 2010 8:43 pm

As reported from LEGO's Press Release , the LEGO Group lost a European court battle on the iconic eight-stud (2X4) brick as a trademark. LEGO's long dispute with Canadian toy maker Mega Brands (MegaBloks) has finally ended. This means other companies can use the LEGO Brick design on their products. Is this a good or bad thing? Will there be lower prices with more competition?

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Re: LEGO Group Loses Trademark on the LEGO Brick

Post by Mantisking » Thu Sep 16, 2010 7:03 am

Hadn't the patent already expired and this was another bid by the Lego company to retain control of the design?

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Re: LEGO Group Loses Trademark on the LEGO Brick

Post by hatcher » Thu Sep 16, 2010 7:21 am

From what I am reading, and correct me if I am wrong, this is about the use of the LEGO brick in advertising. LEGO long ago lost the patent on the actual brick, they were arguing that the brick image was a trademark and that no one else should be able to use it advertising or packaging. This court case says that it is not a trademark, which means that other companies can now include it in their advertising and packaging too.

Is that the gist of it?
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Re: LEGO Group Loses Trademark on the LEGO Brick

Post by Mantisking » Thu Sep 16, 2010 7:54 am

hatcher wrote:From what I am reading, and correct me if I am wrong, this is about the use of the LEGO brick in advertising. LEGO long ago lost the patent on the actual brick, they were arguing that the brick image was a trademark and that no one else should be able to use it advertising or packaging. This court case says that it is not a trademark, which means that other companies can now include it in their advertising and packaging too.

Is that the gist of it?
That's how it reads to me.

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Re: LEGO Group Loses Trademark on the LEGO Brick

Post by ncbarrett » Thu Sep 16, 2010 8:32 am

This statement:
Analyses show that 40-60% of shoppers believe they are buying a LEGO product when in fact they are purchasing a different product. Shoppers can see there is a different name on the box – but they believe it is a product line or company owned by us,” says Peter Kjær.
is very true.
There is another brand of block that look identical to LEGO blocks. People will assume they are LEGO blocks due to looking so similar.
I think if people really knew the truth, no other block building systems would sell at all.
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Re: LEGO Group Loses Trademark on the LEGO Brick

Post by Mantisking » Thu Sep 16, 2010 8:43 am

ncbarrett wrote:This statement:
Analyses show that 40-60% of shoppers believe they are buying a LEGO product when in fact they are purchasing a different product. Shoppers can see there is a different name on the box – but they believe it is a product line or company owned by us,” says Peter Kjær.
is very true. There is another brand of block that look identical to LEGO blocks. People will assume they are LEGO blocks due to looking so similar. I think if people really knew the truth, no other block building systems would sell at all.
I find that hard to believe. Unless there's some comapny out there that makes their packaging exactly like Lego packaging.

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Re: LEGO Group Loses Trademark on the LEGO Brick

Post by legitimatealex » Thu Sep 16, 2010 9:30 am

Mantisking wrote:
ncbarrett wrote:This statement:
Analyses show that 40-60% of shoppers believe they are buying a LEGO product when in fact they are purchasing a different product. Shoppers can see there is a different name on the box – but they believe it is a product line or company owned by us,” says Peter Kjær.
is very true. There is another brand of block that look identical to LEGO blocks. People will assume they are LEGO blocks due to looking so similar. I think if people really knew the truth, no other block building systems would sell at all.
I find that hard to believe. Unless there's some comapny out there that makes their packaging exactly like Lego packaging.
A ton of them do. Mega Blocks and even freaking Knex now sell 'tubs' of their 'bricks' that look pretty identical. If you read LEGO's direct press release they say that their marketing department has found that something like 40-60% of people mistake their purchases of off brand LEGO products as ACTUAL LEGO products. Even though it lacks the LEGO logo they think that it is just a sub category or a line of LEGO. That's pretty significant.
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Re: LEGO Group Loses Trademark on the LEGO Brick

Post by hatcher » Thu Sep 16, 2010 9:48 am

Its sad that people out there are so (I hate to use the word "stupid" here, but, well, if the shoe fits), lacking in knowledge.

Unfortunately, if this ruling means what I think it means, the problem will only get worse. We, who know that Megablocks and other knock offs are junk will not buy them, but others will.

Some people (on other LEGO boards) think this will actually be a good thing (for us, not for LEGO). They seem to think that this will result in lower LEGO prices. The rational being that if LEGO has more competition, it will have to lower prices to compete.

I'm no business expert, but that doesn't seem likely.
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Re: LEGO Group Loses Trademark on the LEGO Brick

Post by Mantisking » Thu Sep 16, 2010 9:59 am

hatcher wrote:Its sad that people out there are so (I hate to use the word "stupid" here, but, well, if the shoe fits), lacking in knowledge.
It is true, but we are more interested in Lego than other people. I'm sure there's stuff that we are not interested in -- say fashion, for example -- that other people are, and they look at us in the same way.
hatcher wrote:Some people (on other LEGO boards) think this will actually be a good thing (for us, not for LEGO). They seem to think that this will result in lower LEGO prices. The rational being that if LEGO has more competition, it will have to lower prices to compete.

I'm no business expert, but that doesn't seem likely.
I'm thinking we're going to see more companies come to the market and the market will become tiered. Lego will, of course, sit at the top. Mega Bloks and maybe some others will sit in the second tier, and other even shoddier knock-offs will sit in the third tier. Given enough time the market will consolidate, as markets do, and we'll be left with one or two almost-monopolies.

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Re: LEGO Group Loses Trademark on the LEGO Brick

Post by ncbarrett » Thu Sep 16, 2010 10:57 am

hatcher wrote: Some people (on other LEGO boards) think this will actually be a good thing (for us, not for LEGO). They seem to think that this will result in lower LEGO prices. The rational being that if LEGO has more competition, it will have to lower prices to compete.

I'm no business expert, but that doesn't seem likely.
well if there is more competition, maybe people will buy them on price, like they do with other ones already, and realize they are junk and want to buy the real stuff (LEGO) and give LEGO more customers.

I try to be optimistic :D
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Re: LEGO Group Loses Trademark on the LEGO Brick

Post by legitimatealex » Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:34 am

ncbarrett wrote:
hatcher wrote: Some people (on other LEGO boards) think this will actually be a good thing (for us, not for LEGO). They seem to think that this will result in lower LEGO prices. The rational being that if LEGO has more competition, it will have to lower prices to compete.

I'm no business expert, but that doesn't seem likely.
well if there is more competition, maybe people will buy them on price, like they do with other ones already, and realize they are junk and want to buy the real stuff (LEGO) and give LEGO more customers.

I try to be optimistic :D
I'd like to save all those kids from having to combine their Mega Blocks with LEGO products from the get go though. Even as a small child I knew that they weren't LEGO and I hated it. :evil: It's a shame that knock off companies bring pretty much nothing new and they just try to deceive the market by making people think that they're apart of a much more credible brand.
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Re: LEGO Group Loses Trademark on the LEGO Brick

Post by ncbarrett » Thu Sep 16, 2010 12:11 pm

legitimatealex wrote:
I'd like to save all those kids from having to combine their Mega Blocks with LEGO products from the get go though. Even as a small child I knew that they weren't LEGO and I hated it. :evil: It's a shame that knock off companies bring pretty much nothing new and they just try to deceive the market by making people think that they're apart of a much more credible brand.
Well it is your responsibility to make sure everyone you know, doesn't buy the junk. :mrgreen:
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Re: LEGO Group Loses Trademark on the LEGO Brick

Post by slacker » Thu Sep 16, 2010 1:35 pm

hatcher wrote:Its sad that people out there are so (I hate to use the word "stupid" here, but, well, if the shoe fits), lacking in knowledge.

Unfortunately, if this ruling means what I think it means, the problem will only get worse. We, who know that Megablocks and other knock offs are junk will not buy them, but others will.

Some people (on other LEGO boards) think this will actually be a good thing (for us, not for LEGO). They seem to think that this will result in lower LEGO prices. The rational being that if LEGO has more competition, it will have to lower prices to compete.

I'm no business expert, but that doesn't seem likely.
I can see elderly people trying to buy a lego set and get megablocks instead because of the price. But not everybody is educated as we are. But parents do know the difference between lego and blocks that are called something else.

Competition is good. When Lego thinks other companies are taking their market shares, that's when I see prices dropping. it's not going to be a huge drop, but a couple bucks. I don't think other companies are much of a threat right now because of market share. I mean, Lego gets it's own Aisle! You can't say that about Kennex or Megablocks. they don't have enough products out there. Plus we all know the quality is not comparable. Also, Lego will work even harder to make better products. I also don't know about other companies customer service but it means alot. And we all know that Lego has great customer service.

Now this is all based on my own experience being in the electronic manufacturing business.

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