Subject:
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"Shifty" rip off brand -- can they get away with this??
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands
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Date:
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Sun, 25 Jul 1999 19:32:03 GMT
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Viewed:
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372 times
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I was glancing thru a dollar-shop in lower-mainland British Columbia, Canada,
a couple days ago when I saw some small LEGO sets for sale, the kind that
usually go for $4 or $5 US. They were being sold for only $1 a piece; they had
a set of a couple pirates with the parrot and treasure chest, and another of a
Lionheart knight with white horse and metallic gold crown.
I thought "Great deal!" and was about to grab a couple when I paused and
looked closer...
They are actually "SHIFTY" brand, not LEGO, although the box design, layout,
graphics, colors, etc. look almost exactly like LEGO, even the SHIFTY logo was
similar to the LEGO logo. The only difference was the name and also a bunch of
Chinese characters in small print on the side of the box. Aha.. "Made in China"
But the pictures of the sets on the box look exactly like LEGO parts and sets.
So I opened one up and pulled out the bag to look at the parts... man, talk
about cheap-ass imitation. The parts were the exact same type and dimensions
as LEGO, but they didn't bear the LEGO name on the studs, and also the colors
and prints (such as the Lionheart minifig torso crest) were whacked out.
A lot of the colors and prints didn't even match what was shown on the box.
Serious low quality stuff.
The horse actually came as three pieces -- left side, right side, and head,
you had to snap it together -- and it was *green*, yes, a green horse. At
least in one of the boxes; each box varied. One of the pirate boxes contained
a crossbow and quiver (both of them red)...??
I was wondering if anyone else had seen this "SHIFTY" brand before
(appropriately named).
Can they get away with that?? It's so obviously a deliberate rip-off of LEGO,
intended to deceive consumers into thinking it's LEGO, then they get it home,
and the parts bite a big one.
I wonder if LEGO knows about this, and if not, maybe they should...
----
Chris Lyman [lymancw@<nospam>wku.edu]
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