Subject:
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Re: 2004 Alpha Team: The Good, the Bad, and the Jack Stone
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Wed, 16 Jun 2004 19:31:21 GMT
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Viewed:
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1454 times
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In lugnet.general, Don Heyse wrote:
> In lugnet.general, Dave Schuler wrote:
> > I don't know that the patent is at issue here; MEGABLOKS has its own range of
> > hinge elements, none of which matches the classic LEGO finger hinge design.
>
> Are you sure about that? They may not be the exact same parts, but
> the hinge fingers sure look like a match. I'll have to test it though.
> I'd bet Lego has a patent on the new click hinge finger design, in
> addition to any patents on the hinged parts themselves.
Oops. Perhaps my wording was vague, but you're correct. The fingers are indeed
compatible, though the bricks/plates themselves are not overly similar. I would
guess that they're not sufficiently idential to be in danger of patent
infringement.
Now that I think of it, though, MEGABLOKS had an exactly compatible 1x3 plate
with 3 fingers in its Motor Sport product line a number of years ago, but I
don't think that this part exists in any current MEGABLOKS products. Perhaps it
was discontinued to pre-empt any patent issues?
If LEGO does have a patent on the click-hinge concept, then they'd better start
policing it! Hasbro's BTR line uses a nearly-identical concept, and even
MEGABLOKS introduced a type of click-hinge with its Blok-Bots line (though this
latter design was drastically different from LEGO's, of course).
Dave!
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