Lego clone

A Lego clone is a line or brand of children's construction blocks which is mechanically compatible with Lego brand blocks, but is produced by another manufacturer. The blocks were originally patented by The Lego Group in 1961 as "toy building bricks",^[1] and the company has since remained dominant in this market. Some competitors have moved to take advantage of Lego brand recognition by advertising their own products as compatible with Lego, with statements such as "compatible with leading building bricks".^{[citation needed]} The legal status of providing compatibility with Lego brand blocks is unclear.

Legal challenges

At least two of the largest clone manufacturers have been challenged in court by Lego. The lawsuits have been mostly unsuccessful, as courts have generally found the functional design of the basic brick to be a matter of patent rather than trademark law, and all relevant Lego patents have expired.

The Canadian company Mega Bloks was sued on the grounds that its use of the "studs and tubes" interlocking brick system was a violation of trademarks held by Lego. On November 17, 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld Mega Bloks' right to continue selling the product in Canada.^[2] A similar decision was reached by the European Union's Court of First Instance on November 12, 2008, upholding an EU regulatory agency's reversal of opinion following an objection by Mega Bloks against a trademark awarded to Lego in 1999.^[3] On September 14, 2010, the European Court of Justice ruled that the 8-peg design of the original Lego brick "merely performs a technical function [and] cannot be registered as a trademark." ^[4]

The English company Best-Lock Construction Toys was also sued by Lego in German courts in 2004 ^[5] and 2009.^[6] The German Federal Court denied Lego trademark protection for the shape of its bricks in the latter case.^[7]

The Lego Group did score a success in 2002, when its Swiss subsidiary Interlego AG sued the Tianjin COKO Toy Co., Ltd. company for copyright infringement. A claims court found many Coko bricks to be infringing; CoCo was ordered to cease manufacture of the infringing bricks, publish a formal apology in the Beijing Daily, and pay a small fee in damages to Interlego. On appeal, the Beijing High People's Court upheld the trial court's ruling.^[8]

Major clone manufacturers

• BanBao - based in China. Recently won a lawsuit brought by the Lego Group, due to differentiation of its commercial offerings from the Lego Group's.
• Best-Lock - based in England. Compatible with Lego bricks.
• Built to Rule - a compatible line from Hasbro based upon existing toys and characters from the Hasbro brand, such as G.I. Joe and Transformers.
• Cobi - based in Poland. Continues to be marketed independently since merging with Best-Lock in 2006.
• Character Options - based in the UK. They produce Character Building products of compatible bricks in several ranges including Doctor Who, HM Armed Forces, Deadly 60, Ben 10, and others.
• CoCo - based in China. Produced by Tianjin COKO Toy Co., Ltd. until 2002.
• Enlighten Brick - based in China. Produced by Concord Toys International Ltd.
• Kawada - based in Japan. Makers of DiaBlock and NanoBlock, licenses have included Disney and Transformers.
• K'nex - based in the US. Large engineering-themed toy producer, mainly non compatible girder-based elements, but some sets feature Lego-compatible studs.
• Kre-O - produced by Hasbro, and released six years after the end of the "Built to Rule" line. Sets come with Minifigure-like characters called Kreons.
• LaQ sets - based in Japan. Produced by Yoshiritsu co. Ltd., similar in principle, but use flat plastic clip together tiles, not standard bricks as a basic building unit.
• Lite Brix - based in the US. They are at higher prices than the Lego brand rather than lower prices.
• Mega Bloks - based in Canada. The Lego Group's closest competitor, with a large product line, major third-party licenses such as World of Warcraft, Need for Speed, Halo, Smurfs, and Hello Kitty, and a presence in mainstream toy outlets.
• Oxford - based in South Korea. Distributed in the West by Hasbro under the Kre-O brand.
• Peacock Toys - based in India.
• Rokenbok - based in the US.
• Sluban - based in China. Their sets are largely clones of Oxford sets.
• Star Diamond - based in China. Their sets are clones of Lego sets with higher quality.
• Super Blox - based in the US. A brand of the CRA-Z-ART company.
• Tente - based in Spain, 1972-2008. Semi-compatible with Lego, having the same dimensions but a different stud diameter and clutching system.
• Wange - based in China. Their sets are clones of Lego sets and own larger design set, then a lof of parts are provided.

Several Chinese brands manufacture exact copies of Lego elements using counterfeit molds, which often are listed for sale significantly cheaper online or locally. These include Ligao, Kazi, Wange, Decool (specialising in the Ninjago line), Sheng Yuan and Brick.^{[citation needed]}

References