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In lugnet.general, David Eaton writes:
> At any rate, the jist that I'm getting is:
> you can say "I like to play with LEGO(R) bricks"
> but you can't say "I like to play with LEGO(R)"
> But is the (R) necessary everywhere?
I'm not a laywer, but I don't think you really need to put it on every single
occurrence... It certainly shows respect to do so, but only once somewhere at
the beginning is also fine, as far as I'm aware. A statement also such as
"LEGO is a registered trademark of the Lego Group" is a good idea too.
> and also, they say that it shouldn't
> stand out from the other text in any way, but does this mean anything about
> capitalization? Seems more like a strict internet issue... but is it ok to
> say "I like to play with lego(R) bricks"? or "I like to play with Lego(R)
> bricks"?
TLG's trademark information packet asks people always to write TLG trademarks
in uppercase, but I'm not sure that this is a strict legal requirement. As I
understand it, trademarks are traditionally written in uppercase simply to
emphasize that they are a trademark.
> And referring to the company should be 'the Lego Group' or 'the LEGO Group'?
> I don't think that needs the (R)... anyway, I'll probably call tonight and
> ask, but has anyone dealt with this issue before and know what they actually
> want?
I've been told that writing either 'the LEGO Group' or 'the Lego Group' is
fine. In fact, as a subtle distinction, at least one outside trademark
counsel for TLG prefers to write 'Lego' whenever he is talking about the
company and 'LEGO' whenever he is talking about the product. The following
is an excerpt from an August, 1997 letter from an attorney at Fross Zelnick
Lehrman & Zissu, P.C. in New York:
"Regarding the upper and lower case appearance of the word Lego, you are
correct. It is a content-based convention among trademark lawyers, but
one without legal significance beyond the requirement that trademarks be
used as adjectives and be emphasized by use of at least an initial capital
letter. The use of all caps makes it clear that the word is a trademark,
as does the ®. When we refer to the trademark LEGO, we generally show it
in all uppercase letters. When we refer to Lego companies or the Lego
Group, we generally show it with only an initial capital letter. There is
no technical reason for this, but it is a custom which we as trademark
attorneys follow and, while it occasionally causes some confusion, as a
general rule it is helpful when corresponding about trademarks which are
also a company's name."
--Todd
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Non-webpage LEGO reference?
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| I'm trying to figure out how TLG wants their product to be referenced-- I've read the 'legal notice' section of TLG's web page, but everything it talks about for how to reference lego seems to be specific to websites... I'd guess that for general (...) (25 years ago, 17-Sep-99, to lugnet.general)
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