The LEGO Group’s on-going fight against trademark violation in China has reached an important milestone. In July this year The Beijing Higher Court passed a ruling that recognises the LEGO® logo and the LEGO® name in Chinese as “well-known” trademarks in China.
The well-known trademark recognition will help the company get better protection for LEGO trademarks in the country. This also means more strength in their battles against infringement of LEGO trademarks, even outside the toy category. Every legal win like this one is a step towards their ultimate goal of taking on companies like LEPIN that blatantly steal LEGO IP.
LEGO have made significant investment in the Chinese market including building a factory in Jiaxing, south of Shanghai and see the country as a huge growth opportunity.
You can read the full press release below.
Note: While the court ruling was in July, LEGO have only just issued a press release about this.
The LEGO® trademark recognised as a well-known trademark in China
The Beijing Higher Court passed a ruling earlier this year [July 22, 2017] that recognises the LEGO® logo and the LEGO name in Chinese as ’well-known’ trademarks in China. The well-known trademark recognition is an important milestone in getting broader protection for LEGO trademarks in China. This means that the LEGO Group is now in a better position to act against infringement of LEGO trademarks also outside the toy category.Peter Thorslund Kjær, Vice President, Legal Affairs in the LEGO Group, said: “The ruling by the Beijing Higher Court is very important for the LEGO Group. It reflects the significant effort and investment put into marketing the LEGO brand and products towards the Chinese consumers, and it further reduces the risk that consumers in China are misled when they see the LEGO logo or the LEGO name in future. We are now in a better legal position acting against infringement of LEGO trademarks and defending our trademark portfolio.
“We see this as a recognition of our status in China as a known and loved brand by parents and children, and we appreciate the support from the Chinese government and authorities to ensure the continued protection of millions of Chinese consumers as well as our unique trademark and logo.”
The LEGO Group actively protects its trademarks globally and each year brings relevant cases to courts to ensure that consumers can always trust that a product carrying the LEGO logo or featuring the characteristic LEGO design is genuine.
“Since 1932 the LEGO name and the LEGO logo have been a guarantee of the highest safety and quality standards. We are committed to doing what it takes to protect children and assure parents that when a product features a LEGO logo it will offer the best quality, as well as be great fun to play with. We will continue to take action globally when we see attempts to mislead consumers and infringement of our trademarks and copyrights,” said Thorslund Kjær.
That’s great but only time will tell if it’s effective. Sadly, I suspect it will be like trying to plug holes in a leaky bucket.
There is another Chinese Lego knockoff called Sembo Brick. They are releasing a set that looks suspiciously like Cafe Corner from the outside but they’ve turned it into a strip club, complete with ‘Heineken’ billboard, lights, stripper minifigs and dancing poles! The slogan on the box says “to facilitate communication between children and parents”. This is no joke…Google Semboclub. It’s even worse than what Lepin is doing!