LEGO LOSES EU TRADEMARK RIGHTS TO ITS PLASTIC BRICK IMAGE
November 1st, 2008
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DANISH plastic toymaker Lego has lost a legal bid to secure EU trademark rights to a three-dimensional image of one of its plastic red bricks. European Court of Justice (ECJ) judges have ruled the image was too generic and commonplace, so other companies would be unfairly restricted from using pictures of plastic bricks in their marketing.
The case dates back to 1996 when Lego applied for EU-wide trademark rights to the image. This was challenged in 1999 by Canadian toy company Mega Brands Inc (then Ritvik Holdings Inc), which opposed Lego ...
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