The LEGO Group wins major intellectual property lawsuit against bogus bricks in China

November 5, 2018: The LEGO Group today received a favourable decision from the Guangzhou Yuexiu District Court against four companies who infringed multiple copyrights of the LEGO Group and conducted acts of unfair competition by producing and distributing bogus bricks building sets. It is another significant legal victory in China for the LEGO Group in its battle against imitators over the past two years.

According to the decisions issued by the court, the four defendants, Shantou Meizhi Model Co., Ltd., et al, are liable for copying the 3-dimensional artworks of 18 LEGO® sets, multiple LEGO Minifigures, as well as for carrying out unfair competition acts.

The court ordered, among other things, that the four defendants shall immediately cease producing, selling, exhibiting or in any way promoting the infringing products, and shall pay the LEGO Group approximately RMB 4.5 million as damages.

Niels B. Christiansen, Chief Executive Officer of the LEGO Group said:

“We welcome the court’s ruling. We believe these decisions are well-founded in the facts and the law, and clearly demonstrate the continued efforts of Chinese authorities to protect intellectual property. It also shows the authorities’ commitment to creating a fair business environment for all companies operating in China. The court’s decisions state that the bogus bricks manufacturer and sellers must immediately cease copying the 18 LEGO sets that have been found protectable by the court. These rulings send a clear warning message to other companies who may be copying LEGO products. We will continue to take all necessary legal actions to protect our intellectual property rights.”

Christiansen added: “When children and shoppers choose a LEGO product, they expect the highest quality and the safest play experience. We cannot have them being misled in any way. While we welcome fair competition, if someone misuses our intellectual property and seeks to take advantage of consumers’ trust, we will take action.”

Over the past two years, the LEGO Group has obtained positive outcomes in its intellectual property enforcement actions in China. In October 2017, the LEGO Group won a case at Shantou Intermediate Court against BELA, a Chinese toy manufacturer, for infringing the copyrights of the LEGO Group and for unfair competition. In another case decided earlier in July 2017, the LEGO logo and the LEGO word mark were recognized by the Beijing Higher Court as “well-known” trademarks in China.

 

https://www.lego.com/da-dk/aboutus/news-room/2018/november/bogus bricks-case/

Edited November 6, 20187 yr by warezz

Only 18 protectable sets? What makes a set protectable vs not?

2 minutes ago, SageFly said:

Only 18 protectable sets? What makes a set protectable vs not?

Must have all been Nexu Knights.

9 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

Must have all been Nexu Knights.

Escort Girls aren´t protectable?

That explains why my Nexo Knights sets haven't been selling.

43 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

Must have all been Nexu Knights.

 

46 minutes ago, SageFly said:

Only 18 protectable sets? What makes a set protectable vs not?

On the one hand it's probably less complicated a lawsuit to only go after the intellectual property that they fully own, brick, design, and content.

I wonder if that leaves those companies to continue to do the licensed IP sets, or if this is even enforceable in the first place. If so, this is a fairly small victory for us.

I'm sure Chinese companies producing counterfeit goods will abide by this.

1 hour ago, iahawks550 said:

I'm sure Chinese companies producing counterfeit goods will abide by this.

The hilarious part is genuine clearance bin Nexo has always worked out cheaper to buy than the Chinese fakes!

Edited November 6, 20187 yr by Val-E

The issue in not China but the people selling them on every marketplace imaginable.  Amazon is loaded with fakes and yet they bust on resellers for some BS safety data.  Crack down on the resellers of knockoff sets instead of resellers of legitimate sets and maybe The LEGO Group's profits will improve.

On 11/6/2018 at 2:40 PM, mudcatsfan said:

 

On the one hand it's probably less complicated a lawsuit to only go after the intellectual property that they fully own, brick, design, and content.

I wonder if that leaves those companies to continue to do the licensed IP sets, or if this is even enforceable in the first place. If so, this is a fairly small victory for us.

I see it the same way. obviously SageFly never sued anyone - the more eggs in the basket you have - the more complicated the proceedings, getting or submitting the relevent loss reports etc.. 

10 hours ago, Ed Mack said:

The issue in not China but the people selling them on every marketplace imaginable.  Amazon is loaded with fakes and yet they bust on resellers for some BS safety data.  Crack down on the resellers of knockoff sets instead of resellers of legitimate sets and maybe The LEGO Group's profits will improve.

A bigger problem is Alibaba who relish in selling other knock-off brands like BELA (eg. Friends) and they are supposedly the "Amazon of China". Not the right path for a so-called professional company to take. I used to import a lot of genuine bike parts off them, but I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole now. Like eBay, these large companies just don't care and just want to make the most profit in the shortest time without any regard for ethics, genuine resellers or even the law! These greedy vultures need to be knocked off their perches so a massive crackdown is coming me thinks ?

7 hours ago, TabbyBoy said:

A bigger problem is Alibaba who relish in selling other knock-off brands like BELA (eg. Friends) and they are supposedly the "Amazon of China". Not the right path for a so-called professional company to take. I used to import a lot of genuine bike parts off them, but I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole now. Like eBay, these large companies just don't care and just want to make the most profit in the shortest time without any regard for ethics, genuine resellers or even the law! These greedy vultures need to be knocked off their perches so a massive crackdown is coming me thinks ?

Yes, Alibaba is the biggest culprit.  

5 hours ago, Ed Mack said:

Yes, Alibaba is the biggest culprit.  

Don't sell Facebook short.

Coming into the Christmas season my daily feed contains at least one paid ad an hour of b#llsh1t bricks every hour.

Blocking the advertiser - doesn't work, reporting the advertiser doesn't work, leaving expletives on the post whilst satisfying has no impact.

The comments are sometimes humourous - "wow a UCS MF for $70" I look at the accompanying picture which has the falcon's cockpit on the wrong side, guess someone copied the negative image for publishing.