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In lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade, Todd Thuma writes:
> > > the Guild of Bricksmiths creates sets, instructions and
> > > boxes mimicking Lego products (even using their own bricks) and then sell
> > > them for exorbitant amounts of money. How do they get away with it without
> > > Lego coming down on them? Only Lego has the answer to that question.
>
> Darn, I am no expert ( DIANE ), but the BrickGuild and the BrickSmiths
> "get away with it" the same way that the used CD market and book market
> "gets away with it." The courts have some what determined that the re-sale
> of items by licensed businesses is within the law and does not violate
> copyright, trademark, or intellectual property issues.
>
> The Brick Guild does several things right. First, to be a member you must
> qualify (see the website for the details). Next the instructions are created
> by hand using LDraw and various other supporting programs. This does not
> violate the copyright nor the patents that LEGO Group holds on their
> products. Third, the BrickGuild members purchase their products from LEGO
> Direct or LEGO Retail and re-sort the bricks into their "Original Sets."
> This is essentially the same as a re-seller that purchases the original
> components from the manufacturer and sells them to the consumer. Essentially
> the Bricksmiths are using LEGO Group as the OEM and then using the parts for
> specialized products.
>
> The price is exorbitant because they must purchase several sets or parts
> from BrickLink sellers to complete the set. This is an expensive
> proposition, as I have learned from assembling my first MOCs. The final
> thing that they do right is that they keep under LEGO's radar. I am certain
> the powers that be are fully aware of the members of the BrickGuild and are
> examining products from their for future MOC line potentials, but their low
> volume and high prices keep them selling to an extermely limited market.
> Besides their lawyers can always argue that they generate business for the
> company through outright purchases of their product, which is never against
> the law. Its only against the law to cut the manufacturer out of the
> process, not to include them.
>
> My humble Opinion
>
> Todd
I agree with most of what Todd speculates about with respect to LEGO(r)'s
view of things as they relate to Guild of Bricksmiths(tm) operations as
probably being accurate speculations (they agree with my own speculations
about LD and TLC).
However I'm probably obliged to point out that BrickGuild and BrickSmith are
not correct usage (unless they are not referring to the Guild of Bricksmiths
but rather to some other organization of which I am unaware).
Correct usage would be "Guild of Bricksmiths(tm)" or, when referring to an
individual member, "Bricksmith(tm)". Once the term is first fully given,
"GoB" (note the bicapitalization) is an acceptable shorthand. The "(tm)"'s
are, as discussed before, not strictly required, but certainly are
appreciated, at least on first mention, or on some mention on the page if
it's not convenient.
We're obligated to periodically post a reminder such as this or we are in
danger of losing rights to our trademarks and it's been a while since we did
so and Todd's (inadvertant and non malicious, I am sure) misuse is
particularly glaring so this seemed a good opportunity.
Calling our pricing "exorbitant" as a previous poster did (not Todd! ...his
economic analysis is spot on) probably shows an imperfect understanding of
the rather unfortunate economics we operate within, as exorbitant carries a
connotation of deliberate overpricing.
Believe me, if I could sell the PCC for 60 USD (1) and come anywhere close
to covering my costs plus a small profit, I would do it in a heartbeat! But
that's so far under my internal cost that it's not worth discussing
++Lar
1 - an amount somewhere near the price point I suspect LD might choose were
it to select MTW-3001 for production.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Solid Aluminum 2x4 Bricks!
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| (...) Darn, I am no expert ( DIANE ), but the BrickGuild and the BrickSmiths "get away with it" the same way that the used CD market and book market "gets away with it." The courts have some what determined that the re-sale of items by licensed (...) (22 years ago, 4-Jun-02, to lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)
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