[retSava]

IIRC lego had two actual patents: the basic brick, and the classic figure. The brick is expired while the figure isn't. Hence you can find "alternate" bricks, but not figures. They do own a shitload of trademarks, and aren't afraid to enforce them (which they legally must or they risk losing the TM).

Fun story: my wife ordered a couple of those "alternate" sets, and none inflicted on Legos patent nor TM (no lego branding, not a copy of a lego set, etc). The Swedish customs acted on their own (baffling to me) and stopped the package, sent her a letter in stark wording to accept forfeit. She challenged this, then Lego's lawyers got in contact with us and, using the figure patent, claimed this was a copy and we should forfeit or they would sue her. Very harsh letter, very stark wording.

Left a very bad taste in my mouth, haven't bought any Lego (or alternatives either) since.

[taffronaut]

There is jazz improvisation handbook "Harmony with Lego Bricks" written in the 1980's by Conrad Cork in the UK. It's pretty niche. Conrad approached Lego at the time and they gave him permission to use the Lego name. It's written "LEGO(R)" on the cover. Those were more innocent times I guess. (edited for a typo)

[georgefrowny]

Surely the minifigure patent has expired? The original patent was in 1979 (design patent 253711: https://patents.google.com/patent/USD253711S/en)

Or are they doing a pharma and have repatented a small variation, or the European equivalent is still going?

Or is it actually trademark that is being enforced here?

[meinersbur]

The patent expired, but the minifigs is also a EU 3D trademark. This is not possible for the brick which (only) serves a technical function, namely to hold on each other. Trademarks do not expire while in use. Another example for a 3D trademark, also in this US, is the Coca Cola bottle.

[1] https://www.chaillot.com/ip-news/validity-of-3d-trademarks-f...

[em-bee]

the minifigure is not patented, but protected by a 3D design mark. design marks don't expire, and attempts to challenge the mark and get it removed so far have not been successful.

LEGO is using design marks to protect all new bricks they create. design marks can just be registered without any review. but they can be challenged, and some of these challenges have been successful.

[georgefrowny]

Interesting, thank you.

These are the designs registered for Lego A/S on the EU eSearch website: https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/owners/154249

I did also see from the daily bulletin, that literally today "Bricklab Holding GmbH" (https://www.northdata.com/BrickLab%20Holding%20GmbH,%20Weinh...) was awarded the registration of a minifigure-like design: https://ibb.co/s96f9sKN

Bulletin for today: https://euipo.europa.eu/copla/bulletin/data/download/ctm/202...

[rasz]

Cobi has own minifig design, imo better looking, more human https://latericius.com/en-eu/blogs/blog/cobi-vs-lego