In a years-long legal dispute against a competitor, Lego has now achieved success at the General Court of the European Union. A specific building block remains protected.
In concrete terms, it is a flat plate with only one row of studs in the middle. The Danish toy manufacturer registered this as a design patent in 2010. Lego uses such rare bricks, especially in building sets, to make them more difficult to recreate. In 2010, the European Court of Justice ruled that a normal Lego block cannot be registered as a trademark because its shape results from its technical function.
The German company Delta Sport Handelskontor subsequently ordered the removal of the protection of the rare building block. The EU Trademark Office EUIPO honored this application in 2019. However, Lego went to court. The deletion has been canceled again.
Will the legal dispute now continue before the Court of Justice?
On the second attempt, the trademark office rejected the application, after which Delta Sport filed a lawsuit. However, this lawsuit was dismissed – on the following grounds: for the exemption to protect modular systems, the game piece must meet certain requirements, namely novelty and uniqueness. Delta Sport has not proven that these requirements are not met.
The verdict can still be appealed to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
