Lego wins long-running dispute with BlueBrixx
A well-known Danish manufacturer of designers “Lego” complained about the sale of terminal blocks by a German company BlueBrixx. An application was submitted to the European Union Intellectual Property Office stating that the seller has been importing various game characters from other manufacturers for several years, which are identical in appearance and shape. LEGO minifigures. According to Lego experts, this confuses buyers and they, due to the fact that the figures are difficult to distinguish from the original, acquire analogues.
Understand the validity of claims Lego You can by comparing miniature figures from different manufacturers, presented in the bottom picture.
This is what minifigures from different manufacturers look like (from left to right): LEGO, Sembo, Xingbao, Ausini and again Ausini. The German company BlueBrixx imported and sold all but LEGO products of the five models. Meanwhile, the Danish manufacturer is the sole owner of the minifigures based on the clamp-on building blocks. It is officially registered internationally. Therefore, he demanded the confiscation of analog goods from BlueBrixx and a ban on imports and trade.
As a result, a major litigation ended in favor of the Lego brand. However, the decision emphasizes that LEGO does not have a monopoly on all toy figures that are compatible with its building systems. If the minifigures from another manufacturer are sufficiently different from the Danish versions, then they can be distributed without restrictions.