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ALego clone is a line or brand of children'sconstruction blocks which is mechanically compatible withLego brand blocks, but is produced by another manufacturer. The blocks were originally patented byThe Lego Group in 1961 as "toy building bricks",[1] and the company has since remained dominant in this market.[2] 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".[3]
The last underlying patents of the brick design expired in 1978, opening the field to rivals.[4]
At least two of the largest clone manufacturers have been challenged in court by Lego. The lawsuits have been mostly unsuccessful, for courts have generally found the functional design of the basic brick to be a matter ofpatent rather thantrademark law, and all relevant Lego patents have expired.
Although Lego itself originally copied its bricks from British psychologist and inventorHilary Page in the late 1940s, the company has sued others whom it perceived as producing overly similar products (Lego claims that when contacted by LEGO in the late 1950s, Kiddicraft gave no objection to the Danish company manufacturing the bricks; Lego eventually purchased the rights to the Kiddicraft bricks and trademark from the descendants of Page in 1981).[5][6][7]
Lego andTyco Industries fought in US courts over Tyco's line of interlocking bricks in the 1980s with Tyco prevailing.[4] On August 31, 1987, the US District Court ruled that Tyco could continue making Super Blocks, its Lego clone bricks, but ordered Tyco to stop using the Lego trademark and not to state that they were "Lego, but only cheaper". In Lego's Hong Kong suit against Tyco Super Blocks, Lego received an injunction forcing Tyco to stop cloning Lego bricks designed after 1973. Tyco was also being sued at the time by Lego in Austria, Italy and Canada.[8]
In 1990s Lego sued the Canadian companyMega Bloks 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, theSupreme Court of Canada upheld Mega Bloks' right to continue selling the product in Canada.[9] A similar decision was reached by theEuropean Union'sCourt 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.[10] Mega Bloks won a case at the EU's top court in 2010 against Lego's trademark registration of a red toy building brick. 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."[11]
Also in the 1990s, Korean companyOxford was sued by The Lego Group over similar designs, but the case was eventually ruled in Oxford's favor.[12]
In 2000, Lego filed a three-dimensional trademark for its mini-figures, which Best Lock had duplicated since 1998. In 2012, Best Lock sued to get the trademark revoked. On June 16, 2015, European Court of Justice upheld Lego's figure trademark.[13] Lego had in 2009 filed its copyright claims into a U.S. Customs database that led to the seizure of Best-Lock shipments coming in from Asia. In October 2011, Lego filed in US District Court in Hartford filed against Best-Lock over the mini-figure trademark.[6][14]
The Lego Group did score a success in 2002, when its Swiss subsidiary InterlegoAG sued the Tianjin CoCo Toy Co., Ltd. company forcopyright infringement. A claims court found many CoCo sets to be infringing; CoCo was ordered to cease manufacture of the infringing sets, publish a formal apology in theBeijing Daily, and pay a small fee in damages to Interlego. On appeal, theBeijing High People's Court upheld the trial court's ruling.[15]
The English companyBest-Lock Construction Toys sued Lego in German courts in 2004[16] and 2009.[17] The German Federal Court denied Lego trademark protection for the shape of its bricks in the latter case.[18]
In 2011, Lego sued Guangdong Jumbo Grand Plastic Moulding Industrial over its BanBao brand's similar packaging. The two companies settled their case out of court with Guangdong agreeing to create unique packaging and a new figure design.[19] In 2016, Lego announced that it would be taking legal action against the Chinese companyGuangdong Loongon, which manufactures the brand Lepin, for selling exact replicas of existing Lego products (including box-art).[20] In 2019, Lego sued Lakeshore Learning Materials for violating its minifigure trademark.[21][better source needed] In 2020, Lego was successful in blockingZuru from selling its own version of minifigures, the court finding that Zuru infringed upon Lego's trademark.[22] In 2021, the Guangdong High Court handed down a judgment ordering Guangdong Meizhi and three other defendants (the originators of the LEPIN clone trademark) to payCN¥ 30,000,000 (US$4.56 million) in punitive damages for trademark infringement and unfair competition.[23]
The following brands have been described as "Lego clones":
| Name | Years active | Manufacturer | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| ATC | 1970s | Asahi Toy Company [ja], from Japan | |
| Anko (also known as Construction: Blocks) | 2019–present | Kmart Australia | |
| BanBao | 2010–present | Guangdong Jumbo Grand Plastic Moulding Industrial Co., Ltd. | [19] |
| Bikku | 2018–present | Keak Japan Co., Ltd. | |
| BlueBrixx | 2018–present | BB Services GmbH | |
| Built to Rule | 2003–2005 | Hasbro | [24] |
| Best-Lock | 1997–present | Best-Lock Group | |
| CaDA | 2007–present | Double Eagle Toys Industry Co. Ltd. | [25] |
| Cobi | 1995–present | Best-Lock Group | [26] |
| CoCo | Tianjin COCO Toy Co., Ltd. | [15] | |
| JMBricklayer | JMBricklayer | [26] | |
| Kre-O | 2011–2017 | Hasbro | [24][27] |
| Lakeshore Learning Company | |||
| Laser Pegs | Laser Pegs Ventures | [28] | |
| Lepin[20] | Guangdong Loongon | ||
| Ligao (立高) | 1999– | Wange Toys Industrial Company | [29][30] |
| Lite Brix | 2013– | Cra-Z-Art (LaRose Industries) | [28] |
| LumiBricks (formerly FunWhole, "FO") | [31] | ||
| Make-it Blocks | proprietary brand ofDollar Tree | ||
| Mega Bloks | 1991–present | Mega Brands (Mattel) | [24] |
| Mirabloco | 1980s | CMiranda scholar equipment, from Portugal | |
| Mould King | 2012–present | Mould King | [26] |
| Nifeliz | 2020–present | Nifeliz | |
| N&B Block | 1968-1972 | Nintendo | [32] |
| Oxford | 1996~ | Oxford | [12] |
| Pantasy | 2020-present | Pantasy | |
| Qman (formerly Enlighten) | 1994–present | Guangdong Qman Industry Toys Co., Ltd. | |
| Reobrix | Shantou Juhang Toy Technology Co., Ltd. | ||
| Sluban | 2004–present | Sluban | |
| Tyco Super Blocks | 1984–1990 | Tyco Toys/Mattel | [8] |
| Wilko Blox | Wilko | ||
| Xingbao | 2016 | subsidiary of Lepin,Guangdong Loongon | |
| Zuru MAX (Build More) | Zuru |
Lego has about 70 percent of the construction-toy market
