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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: 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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| | 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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(...) 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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(...) 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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(...) 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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(...) (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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(...) 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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(...) 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 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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(...) 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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(...) 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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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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(...) 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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(...) 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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(...) I want so badly for this not to be true, because it would mean I've been thinking of the wrong minifig this whole time, but I just dug around in my clone bins and I think you're right. I've got Best-Lock and military sets so connected in my (...) (18 years ago, 18-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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| | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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(...) For myself, I really dislike the scuplted figures for a few reasons: 1. They just seem over accentuated - they remind me of Games Workshop paint jobs (though I'll grant they use more subdued colors that GW uses). 2. They keep changing the (...) (18 years ago, 19-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands)
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| | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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(...) Like any overdesigned element, it's just a matter of finding good uses for them I find that Mega Bloks minifig parts fit in just fine if you mix them up well enough with Lego minifig elements. I love using this torso for instance: (URL) I (...) (18 years ago, 20-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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| | Re: Cobi/Best-Lock
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A further note on the difference between Just-Kidz minifigs and Cobi/Best Lock minis (both made by C/block) the company apparently bought molds from multiple sources when making their switch from old scale to Lego metrics after their court victory (...) (18 years ago, 22-Jan-07, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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