Subject:
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Re: Trademark defense doesn't work vs Mega Bloks
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.mediawatch, lugnet.general
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Date:
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Wed, 4 Aug 2004 21:41:35 GMT
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Viewed:
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82 times
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In lugnet.mediawatch, Dave Schuler wrote:
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Goodness. I can think of close to a dozen brands that use some variation of
the tubes-and-studs clutch system, so recognition could definitely be a
problem!
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Well, TLC certainly seems to agree, which is why they’ve been fighting
tooth-and-nail to make everyone else stop making clone bricks.
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This item
has been mentioned previously on LUGNET, but it seems relevant to bring it up
again. The article points out that LEGO allowed the patent on the 2x4 brick,
(presumably including the tube/stud system) to expire in 1978, so they opened
the door for imitators. I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t have renewed the
patent, but now they’re reaping what they’ve sown.
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Patents expire, whether you want them to or not. The idea is that you can
patent something that you invent so you can actually make your money back
instead of having someone else come along and copy you right out of the gate
with lower prices (since they don’t have R&D costs to cover). Copyright lasts
until X years after you, the creator, die, but Disney has successfully bumped
the date back a number of times in court to the point where I’m not sure if the
copyright on the early Mickey Mouse films (like Steamboat Willie) have expired
yet or not. Trademark lasts as long as you can keep using it, but it has to be
an identifying mark of your brand, not a functional idea. Disney can sorta hide
Mickey behind trademark law as long as they keep using his earliest
“spaghetti-limbed” incarnation in at least one current version of their logo,
since anyone showing Steamboat Willie would be displaying a trademarked icon
without permission. TLC has it a bit harder in that Mickey falls under
copyright law, but the 2x4 brick falls under patent law, and Disney has no major
vested interest in twisting those laws up in knots because they can’t be
directly applied to Mickey.
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