 | | 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)
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| | 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)
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| | 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)
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| | 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)
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| | 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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| | 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)
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| | 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)
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| | 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)
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| | 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)
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| | 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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| | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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(...) I'm not sure, to be honest. Cobi has existed for some time in Europe (based in Poland) but has only become available in the US very recently, in the wake of the Cobi/Best-Lock merger. Over at (URL) The Bloks Forum> we've been discussing this (...) (18 years ago, 2-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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| | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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In lugnet.pirates, Dave Schuler wrote: But check out the (...) Wow. I admit I haven't been following Best-Lock at all, but isn't this insanely close to copyright violation for the "likeness" of the minifig? Have their figs always been so (...) (18 years ago, 2-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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| | Cobi/Best-Lock
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Some of you may have noticed the semi-recent appearance of the brand Cobi/Best-Lock on shelves at nearby stores. Toys R Us is, so far, the largest carrier of the brand in the US, though at least one set has appeared at KB Toys, and an arm of the (...) (18 years ago, 2-Jan-07, to lugnet.pirates, lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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| | Re: Gundam Mega Bloks questionnaire
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(...) Thanks for the news, Jeff! I'm still lamenting the fact that we can't readily get these sets in the US, but it's greatly encouraging to see a discussion of future plans for the licensed product line. I don't make a habit of perusing Gundam (...) (18 years ago, 29-Dec-06, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands)
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| | Gundam Mega Bloks questionnaire
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From Gunota Headlines Blog: Yet another Bandai merchandise questionnaire, this time on Gundam Perfect Web's Mega Bloks site ( (URL) ). Besides the usual set of questions, they ask what people want to see from the line in the future. Respondents can (...) (18 years ago, 29-Dec-06, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, lugnet.build.mecha)
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| | K'Nex enters the fray
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K'nex has started selling brick knex hybrid construction sets. They utilize a locking pin mechanism to join knex to plates and bricks (provided). The bricks are done on standard lego scale, and come in several forms not available from other (...) (18 years ago, 28-Dec-06, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands)
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| | Re: Mega Bloks Gundams for sale on Hobby Japan's site
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(...) Thanks, Bryce! This is great for those who've been waiting these past months for exactly this news. I hope that these trickle into the North American market via some avenue more cost-effective than eBay, but we'll see. Dave! (18 years ago, 6-Dec-06, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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| | Mega Bloks Gundams for sale on Hobby Japan's site
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I thought this might be of interest to you guys: (URL) a story on the MechaHub about Mega Bloks Gundams for sale> (18 years ago, 6-Dec-06, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, lugnet.build.mecha, FTX)
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| | Re: Apocryphal Blacktron (revisited once again)
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(...) Readers may recall Hop Frog's excellent (URL) Trident Pod MOC> in the style of the much-beloved Blacktron line. The Trident is particularly nice for its use of the rare two-piece canopy element and the 2x2 rounded grill-tiles, all in (...) (18 years ago, 24-Nov-06, to lugnet.space, lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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| | Re: Medium-Range Shuttle
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(...) Hi Avery! Thanks for looking, and thanks very much for the feedback! The cone elements are pretty rare (to nonexistent) in recent sets, but they were fairly common a few years back. You can see some as part of the forward array on the 9332 (...) (18 years ago, 16-Nov-06, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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