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Colorful Lego bricks: A specific Lego brick is protected

Photo: Jens Kalaene/dpa

Lego has once again achieved success in a legal dispute lasting several years with a German company before the Court of the European Union.

One of Lego's building blocks is protected, the court confirms.

For the exemption to protect modular systems, the token must meet certain requirements, namely novelty and uniqueness.

The competitor, Delta Sport Handelskontor, has not proven that these requirements are not met, the court in Luxembourg explains its judgment.

Normal Lego bricks cannot be registered as a trademark

Lego had already registered the flat plate with just one row of studs in the middle as a design patent in 2010.

The Danish toy manufacturer uses such rare stones, particularly in kits, to make them more difficult to recreate.

The European Court of Justice had decided that a normal Lego brick cannot be registered as a trademark because its shape results from its technical function.

The legal dispute with Delta Sport is about whether the appearance of Lego bricks is primarily of a technical nature.

So far, courts have answered this question in the affirmative, thereby allowing other companies – who generally offer their products at lower prices – to also produce and sell terminal blocks.

The competitor then applied to delete the design patent for the rare new stone.

A certain exception applies to Lego building blocks

The EU trademark office EUIPO in Alicante, Spain, granted this application in 2019, but Lego went to court - and won: The EU court overturned the trademark office's decision in March 2021.

The EUIPO had to decide again and this time rejected Delta Sport's application.

A certain exception applies to the module, which enables the protection of modular systems, it explained as justification.

The German company then went to the EU court in 2022 and requested that the EUIPO decision be overturned.

However, this lawsuit has now been dismissed.

The court stated that a design will only be declared invalid if all of its features are excluded from protection.

According to EU law, technical solutions can only be protected for a limited period of time.

This regulation is intended to prevent monopolies.

The latest rulings in the case could mean that other suppliers may no longer be able to manufacture their products in the classic form due to the protected design of the Lego bricks.

The judgment can still be appealed to the European Court of Justice.

lph/AFP