 | | Re: K'Nex enters the fray
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(...) From an LDraw standpoint, I'm hopeful that Ryan Farrington has the means/will/resources/time to enhance his excellent library of LDraw-compatible K'Nex elements by incorporating some of these new pieces. I'm not a great fan of K'Nex, but I (...) (18 years ago, 17-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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| | Re: K'Nex enters the fray
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(...) A lot of the proportions of K'nex line up perfectly with certain stud lengths so this could be even bigger/more important than that first glance implies. It certainly has my attention. After all certain things are better suited to the angles (...) (18 years ago, 17-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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| | Re: K'Nex enters the fray
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(...) This really pretty big news and seems to have not got much press around here. I stumbed across a link to this site being advertised on BrickShelf: (2 URLs) For those who like K'nex or thought it may have possibilities in the Lego world, now (...) (18 years ago, 17-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, lugnet.general, lugnet.announce, FTX)
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| | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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(...) These sound like MB (URL) Command Ops> (Military) and Dragons (Fantasy) figs to me. I haven't seen studs on Bestlock figs' backs either. And I would heartily agree that Command Ops was just made for BrikWars. And and I can't say 'BrikWars' in (...) (18 years ago, 17-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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| | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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(...) Not sure when you mean--can you be more specific? I have Mega Bloks catalogs dating back to 1993, and they've never struck me as deceptively similar, except insofar as they feature pictures of the various sets arranged in a large display (...) (18 years ago, 16-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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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)
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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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