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In lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, David Eaton wrote:
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Hm. I was under the impression that even just the *image* of a minifig was
un-marketable thanks to copyright. I seem to recall that Mike Rayhawk was
prevented from selling his BrikWars artwork for that reason (although I don’t
think he ever tried to push the issue, since he has a vested interest in not
annoying the company).
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It’s about trademark rather than copyright - the minifig is legally recognized
to represent the Lego company, it’s not just one of their designs or
intellectual properties. From a legal standpoint, using the minifig is
equivalent to using the actual Lego logo on your product.
Besides having a vested interest in not annoying the company, I also have a
vested interest in not diluting the trademark. If I did so, then in a case like
this, Best-Lock would be able to use my work as supporting evidence in their
defense when Lego sues them for their counterfeits. And then nobody wins.
If I had to guess, I would say that Best-Lock probably acquired the Lego
counterfeit molds as part of their merger, from some part of the world where a
trademark doesn’t have the same legal protections. The big cost for a company
like Best-Lock isn’t in producing the plastic bits, it’s in making the molds for
those bits, so if they’ve already got the molds through the merger anyway, it
costs them comparatively little to make a legal opportunity bid to hit Lego
while they’re down by pumping out shipments of fakes.
Obviously Best-Lock knows they’re going to get sued. They really didn’t leave
Lego a lot of choice with such an obvious affront, so they must think the
chances are good for gaining some long-term advantage by taking the case to
court. Lego’s legal position has taken some big setbacks outside the U.S. over
the last couple of years, and Lego’s recent financial belt-tightening hasn’t
been a big secret either, so in Best-Lock’s eyes there may never be a better
time to force legal action with the goal of winning some loosening of the
restrictions on counterfeiters.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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| (...) That's an interesting argument--do you have a citation? I ask because I believe that the patent on the minifig design has expired, and previous arguments by LEGO re: the "trademark" status of their pieces have failed. The majority of rulings (...) (18 years ago, 10-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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| (...) Hm. I was under the impression that even just the *image* of a minifig was un-marketable thanks to copyright. I seem to recall that Mike Rayhawk was prevented from selling his BrikWars artwork for that reason (although I don't think he ever (...) (18 years ago, 2-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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