Did you know that, on average, each person in the world owns 86 LEGO bricks? Annually, 60 billion LEGO bricks and 340 million LEGO minifigures are produced, with a total of 4 billion minifigures worldwide—more than half the global population (Bricks McGee, 2022).
From its humble beginnings as a small carpenter's workshop to becoming a global giant in the toy industry, LEGO has spent nearly a century growing into one of the world's largest toy manufacturers. Throughout its history, LEGO has consistently worked to protect its iconic toy bricks from imitation through intellectual property rights.
Curious about how LEGO safeguarded its brand and ensured proper use of its trademark? Enjoy this blog.
The Origin of the Iconic Colourful Bricks
Founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, The LEGO Group has remained a family-owned business, passed down through generations of the Kristiansen family. The name "LEGO" is derived from the Danish phrase "leg godt," meaning "play well," reflecting the company’s core mission and values.
In its early years, LEGO specialised in high-quality wooden toys, achieving notable success with a wooden duck toy. The company faced significant hurdles, including a catastrophic fire that razed its workshop. Nevertheless, LEGO persevered, rebuilding its facilities and making a pivotal shift to plastic manufacturing. Throughout the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, LEGO continued to produce various wooden trains, such as steam locomotives and express trains, mirroring familiar aspects of children's lives. Even as plastic toys began to be introduced in the late 1940s, wooden trains remained a key part of LEGO’s product lineup.
LEGO first wooden toy (The LEGO group)
By the end of World War II, sourcing quality beechwood became increasingly difficult, prompting Ole Kirk Kristiansen to explore modern plastics. In June 1946, he attended a demonstration of an injection-moulding machine in Copenhagen, was impressed, and ordered a British machine from E.H. Windsor in London. The machine arrived in Billund in December 1947. Despite early challenges with obtaining moulding tools and raw materials, LEGO successfully transitioned to plastic manufacturing, initially using cellulose acetate.
This shift culminated in the launch of the LEGO brick in its current form in 1958. The brick's innovative interlocking design offered limitless building possibilities and became central to LEGO's identity. Twice recognized as "Toy of the Century," the LEGO brick has inspired generations of creative play, underscoring LEGO’s commitment to sparking imagination and innovation through its products.
The Role of Intellectual Property in LEGO Protection
Over the years, The LEGO Group has secured a wide array of trademarks, including the LEGO logo, the minifigure, the basic brick, and the distinctive knobs. Although there is a common misconception that the basic brick and knobs are not protected, they are indeed safeguarded under trademarks for various toys and other products, even if not specifically registered for construction toys.
The original patent for this specific design expired in 1978 in Denmark, the U.S., and Canada (Gerben). With the expiration of patent protection, LEGO increasingly relied on a combination of intellectual property rights—patent law, trademarks, design rights, copyright and unfair competition laws—to safeguard its brand and market share against imitators and competitors.
The IP rights that offer protection to LEGO (Hosseini, 2024; LEGO, 2018)
Patent Law
LEGO’s patents play a crucial role in protecting its innovative coupling system and design features, ensuring that competitors cannot legally replicate these technologies without permission. This exclusivity helps LEGO maintain a competitive edge in the toy industry. For instance, in January 1958, LEGO patented its groundbreaking coupling system in Denmark, which became the foundation for the modern LEGO® brick (Gerben). By 1963, LEGO had further enhanced its manufacturing process by adopting the durable and vibrant ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) polymer, significantly improving both the quality and durability of its products.
By securing patents, LEGO not only protects its innovations but also reinforces its position as a leader in creative and technical advancements within the industry. Given the technical complexity of many LEGO products and the company's continuous investment in new developments, LEGO currently holds over 2,000 active patents worldwide. Although LEGO once held a patent on its iconic brick, this protection expired after 20 years, allowing others to use the design freely. To maintain exclusive rights, LEGO sought to register its bricks as trademarks and designs after the patent's expiration, but these efforts have produced mixed results (Clairfort).
Trademark Rights
The LEGO trademark is one of the LEGO Group’s most valuable assets, registered in over 150 countries worldwide (LEGO, 2018). Trademark rights play a crucial role in ensuring that LEGO’s brand remains distinct and recognizable, fostering consumer trust and preventing the brand name from becoming generic. By maintaining a strong trademark, LEGO effectively safeguards its identity and differentiates itself from competitors.
In practice, the word "LEGO" is almost always accompanied by the ® symbol, which LEGO uses to highlight that it is a protected word mark and to confirm that the products are genuine LEGO items. This approach is part of LEGO's strategy to prevent its brand name from becoming a generic term for building bricks. If a trademark becomes widely used by consumers as a generic name and the owner does not take adequate steps to protect it, the trademark may lose its legal protection (Clairfort).
Recent trademark applications currently pending include MTYHICA, covering entertainment, live shows, and amusement park services; VIDIYO, related to manipulative educational blocks incorporating multimedia or data; and LEGO Discovery Center, which encompasses a broad range of educational games, toys, clothing, and other materials (Gerben).
Design Rights
In addition to its trademark protections, LEGO sought to register a design for a specific type of LEGO brick, which resulted in an extended legal battle. However, in January 2024, the General Court of the European Union upheld the validity of this LEGO brick design (Clairfort). Since 2010, LEGO has also held a registered design right within the EU for the toy brick commonly known as "the LEGO brick" (Barbantonis & Walhberg, 2024).
These design rights safeguard the distinctive appearance of LEGO’s products, preventing competitors from creating similar-looking bricks that might confuse consumers or undermine LEGO’s brand identity. By securing these design rights, LEGO has legal recourse against unauthorised replicas, thereby reinforcing its efforts to maintain a unique and recognizable market presence.
Copyrights
LEGO holds copyrights for various elements of its intellectual property, including the minifigure, building instructions, illustrations, photographs on packaging, and marketing materials (LEGO, 2018). In addition to these, the design of LEGO's construction kits and minifigures, as well as its films and video games, is protected under copyright law, ensuring that its creative works are not copied or exploited without permission. This protection is essential for maintaining the integrity and value of LEGO’s creative content across multimedia formats.
Furthermore, LEGO regularly partners with renowned brands like Star Wars and Disney for its construction kits, films, and video games. Since LEGO does not own the intellectual property rights to these characters, it secures licensing agreements to incorporate them (Clairfort). This approach allows LEGO to leverage its creative assets while managing the rights to external intellectual properties.
Unfair Competition Laws
The Swedish Market Court has decided to provide limited protection to the shape of LEGO bricks under unfair competition laws (Delphi, 2004). When patents, design rights, and trademarks fall short, and a competitor's product is intentionally designed to mimic LEGO’s original product and mislead consumers about its origin, LEGO can seek recourse through unfair competition or passing off laws (LEGO, 2018).
These laws enable LEGO to address situations where competitors produce products that closely resemble LEGO's designs to deceive consumers. By leveraging unfair competition laws, LEGO can uphold fair market practices, protect its brand reputation, and prevent consumer confusion caused by counterfeit or misleading imitations.
P/S
Intellectual property (IP) protection is a vital component of LEGO's business strategy, providing significant benefits that support its market success and longevity. IP protection enables LEGO to preserve its innovations, designs, and brand identity, helping it maintain a competitive edge. This exclusivity allows LEGO to set premium prices and strengthen its brand presence.
Additionally, by securing licensing agreements, LEGO can expand its product offerings and collaborate with other brands while maintaining control over its intellectual property. This approach not only boosts revenue but also extends LEGO’s market reach.
IP protection also ensures that LEGO products are recognized for their quality and authenticity, fostering consumer confidence and brand loyalty. In the second part of this blog, we will explore various IP cases where LEGO has experienced both successes and challenges throughout its development.
We’ll continue our deep dive into LEGO in the next edition - stay tuned!
Reference source:
Bricksmcgee. 2022. International LEGO Day – Our Favourite Fun LEGO Facts. Read here
Burbidge, R. 2018. Building a Long Term Brand Protection solution - the Lego story [Part 3]. Read here.
Barbantonis, F. N. & Walhberg, H. 2024. Lego retains its exclusive design right to Lego bricks in the EU. Read here.
Clairfort. The IP protection of … Lego. Read here.
Delphi, A. 2004. LEGO bricks gain protection under unfair competition rules. Read here.
Dennemeyer Group. 2024. Everyday IP: The building blocks of LEGO law. Read here.
Gerben, J. “A Look at Lego’s Trademark Portfolio”. Read here.
LEGO. The LEGO group history. Read here.
LEGO. 2018. Fairplay. Read here.
Kaufmann, U. 2021. “A win for LEGO in obtaining design protection before the EU General Court”. Read here.
Mathys & Squire. 2022. EU community design protection of ‘modular’ products – ‘The LEGO Exemption’. Read here.
Editor: Chi Nguyen | Graphic Designer: Francesca Di Pillo