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 | | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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| I'm heading off on a business trip in the morning, so I can only give this a real brief reply - (meaning it'll be just as long but I'll have put less thought into it -) (...) I have no objection to clone brands using the same metrics, especially (...) (18 years ago, 11-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
| | | | | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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| (...) I believe that the major similarity is scale. More on this below. <snip> (...) Surely you are not implying that it is just as easy to distinuish a red Mega Bloks 2x4 brick from a red LEGO 2x4 brick as it is a Honda from a Harley! (...) I don't (...) (18 years ago, 11-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
| | | | | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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| (...) There may be another variable at play in those northern European cases; as far as I'm aware, LEGO maintains a de facto stranglehold on many of the markets there, so competitor brands are denied entry altogether. It seems that LEGO has secured (...) (18 years ago, 11-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
| | | | | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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| (...) It's a little misleading to say their arguments have 'failed' - the same arguments that got shot down in Mega Bloks' Canadian home court are still doing just fine in the courts of northern Europe. I think the big loss in Germany is going to be (...) (18 years ago, 10-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
| | | | | 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)
| | | | | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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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 (...) (18 years ago, 10-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
| | | | | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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| (...) (URL) Here's> a shot of three minifigs from the Just Kidz line of Cobi/Best-Lock stuff. And (URL) here's> a reverse angle of the guy on the far left. As you'll see, the leg-holes are square, in what I think is an inferior design; it takes more (...) (18 years ago, 3-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
| | | | | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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| (...) Whoa, that was a blast from the past! I had only been online for the first time a couple of months before that thread.... What an experience the WWW was as a newbie. And now 9 years have past. </nostalgicpine> FUT OT.OT;-) JOHN (18 years ago, 3-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
| | | | | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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| (...) Old Timers may recall the flap back in '99 over the (URL) LEGODEATH> image originally crafted by "Froggy." A brief (400+ post) thread on RTL can be read (URL), if you're interested. I can't remember what became of that whole issue, but clearly (...) (18 years ago, 3-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
| | | | | 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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