LEGO clones are now ripping off the Brickset logo

Now thats certainly a surprise!

Surely there is a way to at least have ago at getting the logo removed from the sets? I have a vested interest in copyright, being into photography so I can tell you that if they are ever sold in the a western country where it is possible to police copyright it should be possible to foo something about it. Since the logo is Brickset's they really shouldn't be allowed to import this into other countries at the very least.

Any sign of them appearing in any western countries where there would be a chance of doing something via the distribution in that country?

I like how they have added the R and TM symbols...... like they are protecting their own trademarks. What is the score in China etc then Do thy NOT have copyright law, or do they not have to abide by European or other area laws? Im not a legal expert but is it the same for Patents...... can they just use those too?

Is there any way that Brickset will be able to take legal action against these companies?

There will come a time when major brands give the Chinese government an ultimatum: either you create and enforce copyright and trademark laws or we will pull our manufacturing out of your country. Leaving millions of their residents out of work. I understand it's not realistic in today's market to do such a thing - but with enhancements in robotic manufacturing, there will come a day when outsourcing to China is not the cheapest option anymore.

Legal action = expensive

Worse is that another clone might pick up the idea and get a logo from another blog.

Oh no crap what did I say?

Legal action is pointless, as said Lego and Disney can't stop the counterfeiters, so this site has no hope! The legal system in China is almost nonexistent when it comes to international law.

If you build it ,they wil plagiarize.
There's really nothing you can do, but if it's of any comfort it shows that you designed such a good logo that people want to steal it.

WHAT!!!!!, Huw you have to add a "dislike" button to the news

Thanks for the link to their Disney Castle. Only $104.49! I was going to pick up a couple, but am having 2nd thoughts since I see now that I would be buying them from the "KKK Store".

I promised the family I'd stop shopping there.

I was in China last year as part of a business school trip. The question of cloning, copying, etc. came up a lot. At the time, Huawei just released a new phone that looked very much like the iPhone, if you recall.

Anyway, long story short, there's a *cultural* issue with China, where taking something (even copying it), and (allegedly) making it better - is considered "innovation". You're "innovative", not a "violator of copyright laws" if you managed to take something that already exists, make a few changes, and release it in a better form.

TL;DR: the Chinese don't see this as copying.

BMW took a Chinese car manufactor to court for a car that they had cloned from an X5, BMW losed.

From their cultural view of it you should be honored that they like your logo so much that they want to use it.

~ £100. I'm almost tempted to try and buy one of these, just to see how close to original quality they have made this.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/4080Pcs-NEW-2016-LEPIN-16008-Cinderella-Princess-Castle-Model-Building-Kits-Minifigures-Block-Bricks-Toys/32708320546.html?spm=2114.40010708.4.8.huD8IG

This could be a mistake for the LEPIN company? Disney are not known for allowing copyright infringement.

You could go after any distributor/store who carries these products in any jurisdiction that does respect intellectual property legislation, certainly the UK and the EU if they're sold here.

Ha, ha. You (we) so-called "western democracies" asked for it, you (we) got it. China is the most powerful country in the world.

Bullies, may seem to have power @alenvprekrsku, but in the end, they are nothing more than a hollow shell. China will eventually get its just desserts.
Though another thought, maybe we should get "innovative" with our logo. Have contests like the superheroes contest a couple months ago. Have various themes around our logo. If we can't go to court, the let's keep them on their toes.

Amazing. My concern is that there will as always be a second hand market for these goods on selling sites where people are passing them off as real lego and scamming people out of their hard earned money for inferior products that they believe to be genuine due to some carefull wording in the item description!

@Venunder if you want to try Lepin, this would be cheaper: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/06022-Ninjagoed-City-of-Stiix-Building-Blocks-2150pcs-Temple-Airjitzu-minifigures-Kids-Bricks-Toys-Compatible-With/32702098034.html?spm=2114.10010108.100009.1.0o377i&scm=1007.13482.37805.0&pvid=f3144b64-14e5-420c-88fe-12fd6170b6e4&tpp=1

I know I wan't have it. I only buy Lego to keep my collection a 100% pure.

Oh look, a box of matches and a plane ticket to China, what a coincidence.

Copyright in China: the right to copy whatever the hell you want.

A friend of my daughter recently went to Indonesia and they gave her a knock-off Minecraft Lego as a birthday present. She forgot about it on the day amongst all her other presents and I later went and got a copy of the real version and quietly replaced it. Later on I checked out the fake before binning it, fairly low quality plastic, felt more brittle and warped fairly easily. If someone blindfolded you and gave you two Lego bricks vs two of these bricks, I'm pretty sure anyone with a passing familiarity with Lego could tell the difference easily.

I'm okay with them copying the idea of interlocking bricks, Megabloks style (still wouldn't buy any of them), but when they knock off detailed parts and entire designs it gets me quite mad.

Those Lepin sets have started appearing on eBay so I've reported every one I've seen. Not that eBay care.

is a sad world ...
respect completely disappears. Clones are everywhere. .. in afols exposition too... became to difficult to spot them, but take advantage from a no profit community is like to grab candy from kids...

is a sad world...

Outrageous.

From now on, I will only buy products carrying the Brickset seal of approval such as those pictured.

Oh well..... What can you do?

Lepin is slowly gaining in quality and shows that bricks are NOT NEED to be as expensive as Lego asks. Lego really needs to step up. :)

Huw, depending on copyright laws in your country (UK), you might actually _HAVE_ to take action (at least send a Cease and Desist letter) to keep trademarks on your logo (assuming you have filed for official trademarks). Otherwise in the future somebody else could infringe your marks, and then claim the existence of this line of products as proof of trademark invalidity.

We live in a neoliberal-capitalist world so this type of thing has become commonplace as people are motivated by nothing but profit.
It's is galling that the Brickset logo has been stolen but like you say if Disney and Lego can't stop it, who can?
Indie artists are having designs hijacked or stolen by multinational companies who can pay their way out of any legal wrangle. It's saddening and disgusting and we don't seem to do very much about it other than choose carefully how we spend our money. Most Lego fans will reject the clone brands and we all can choose to trade with fair and ethical companies.
I have stopped shopping with Ebay and Amazon, for example, because they don't pay their fair share of tax and are prepared to sell clone brands (I'm too trepidatious to buy rare minifigures there now having been flogged fakes in the past) . If we all voted with our feet and money then the clones and cheapskates would loose out (maybe, eventually, hopefully).

Wow.......that is just cruel.

"Brickset clones original logo of Chinese LEGO clones"
- Somewhere in a parallell universe

It's unacceptable. How can people be so idiot that they'll take other's stuff? But it's not a suprise for me when it's in China (or Japan). But what I don't understand is, that they can copy new LEGO sets when ther aren't released yet. How can they build it? The is a really important thing and they should have an incredible high ticket so they can learn it. I can't undertand how people do these things. I know all will copy LEGO but LEGO is and will alwaus be the best of all time. I will never buy a copy of a LEGO set, also if they are cheaper than the real set. It isn't fair and really strange..

Lepin Star Wnrs Millennium Falcon, and yes it is Star Wnrs?? Unbelievable!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uWorUyDNkHA

Top Gear did a feature on Chinese car clones and explained that when BMW (or another company who had been cloned) tried to sue the Chinese company and the government basically put its head in the sand and said the clone was nothing like the real thing and the case was over.

OK Top Gear isn't the most reliable source but I wouldn't be surprised if Disney and Lego have tried and had the same response.

Another thought might be that Disney might not want to "rock the boat" with China considering the new Disneyland has just opened.

The thing I find most troubling about Lepin is that they're getting designs to Lego and reproducing them ... before the public even has access to the toys. How are they doing that? Suggesting industrial espionage (for the industry of children's toys) sounds far too dramatic and glamorous and sexy ... but something odd (and probably illegal) has to be happening behind-the-scenes to enable that kind of infringement.

@IceCreamClone: Hahaha, had a good laugh at your comment.

Seeing that Disney castle makes my blood boil a bit... Ridiculous.

Huw, I hope you've registered your logo as a trademark. There isn't much chance of you stopping the Chinese using your logo, but at least it will prevent them trying to stop you using it!

I mentioned this on the forums a couple weeks ago:
http://bricksetforum.com/discussion/comment/453658/Comment_453658

I would really like to see what actually comes in the mail if one were to order that Lupin 'Disney Castle' for US$104.49. Assuming they weren't somehow able to acquire original plans and part inventories prior to release I shudder to imagine what they've been able to come up purely on the basis of publicity material...

I can only imagine the anger you must have felt when you found out about this.

You must sue them Huw!

Wow. I'm no expert in international copyright law, but this is totally bogus... you should attempt to sue them in case someone a bit closer to home tries to pull the same trick and cites this crap as evidence.

I want to see a review of the Lepin Disney Castle... I do wonder how exactly they made a knockoff of an UNRELEASED product. That little sign in the corner "colors and contents may vary" means that they can put either miscolored bricks or a dead hamster in there, and get away with it.

Disney ought to sue them, though, if they can...

@zordboy, I can tell exactly where they are getting the designs from to clone LEGO sets before they are released. Leaked images. You know all those images that we love to see, like the the Rogue One images the other day? Companies often base their product off of those images. That's why LEGO is so paranoid about leaked images of sets.

I recently read an article about innovation, and it reads, "Patents and other property laws, protecting ownership rights of inventors, reward innovation in the modern west, while lack of suck protection discourages it in modern China." It then goes on to say that because their own inventions aren't protected, China often "borrows" other design. It is disgusting but sadly there is really nothing to do about it.

i have that speed racer set

Just to let you know, China now has a shoe brand which bears a close resemblance to the well-known New Balance. Apparently that certain brand has recently sued New Balance for being the ones plagiarizing and managed to win the lawsuit.

@The_Lego_kid Sorry, but there is no way Lepin can engineer a complete version of the Disney Castle from the leaked images alone. They are getting their hands either on an early copy of the set, or at least a copy of the instruction manual.

The biggest influences (Amazon, Ebay, Aliexpress) still have a role to play in all of this.

For instance, Jack Ma of Alibabba has promised to remove counterfiet products from Alibabba and Aliexpress. As far as Amazon, a recent shareholder meeting revealed that many big and small businesses are very sour with Amazon and their slow progress on removing counterfeiters and trademark violators. In the long run, it is not big companies that will lose (counterfeit goods is a BOOMING industry in the U.S.) it is the small companies, artists and creative providers that ultimately lose. If the big companies can't or won't do anything about it then there is little to no hope for the small business and artist.

^ I was just about to make a similar comment. Much of this problem stems from the inability of sites such as Amazon and Ebay to take any action against counterfeiters. I can tell you right now that Ebay doesn't care one bit about counterfeit products being sold on their site. I have tried reporting the counterfeit Lego Star Wars minifigs on their site and they don't remove the listings. I have even tried calling them directly and I can't get anyone that will do anything about it. I think there needs to be lawsuits against Ebay and Amazon for allowing this.

Don't know about the quality, but some of these sets are one fifth the price of the Lego equivalent. A stale superheros set with 4 figs now costs £40. My sympathy with Lego is pretty limited, and what I'd really love to see is a rival that designed original sets and built its own cult following.

Sorry to see this happening. Disney will not be pleased with LEGO as they are the copyright holders to so many LEGO themes that have been "cloned" in various ways, including the Marvel Super Hero range. This supports my theory that if LEGO arranged that they were able to sell individual items such as minfigures from licensed themes it would be scuttling the fakers business.

It makes me mad. You should join Lego and sue them. Also I had the Lego counterpart of the Hornet.

@Dougts I definitely agree with you that the larger sets, like the Dinsey Castle, could not be reproduced from only leaked images. But certainly some of the smaller sets are copied that way. Either way, something fishy is going on and it's definitely not legal by our standards.

Isn't Lego actually making sets in China these days? If so then that is probably where the "leak" is coming from and they are able to produce knock-offs of sets that have not been released yet.

Some of these knock-offs may actually be made at the same factory as the official sets.

Clone Brands make me sick, this madness needs to come to an end.

(just my inner Superhero talking)

Well this is embarassing. As an Indonesian, I can probably tell you a million stupid things the people of this country has done, and this is one of them.

Sadly, legal actions are pointless as the mentality of many Indonesians supporting counterfeit products will always be there, simply because "the real ones are expensive", and "who cares for intellectual properties?"

To the extent of whether this is an Indonesian ripoff or not, well these are not. They are definitely Chinese and imported here. If you're looking for an Indonesian Lego ripoff, the brand is Bertoyindo: https://www.google.co.id/search?q=bertoyindo+lego&client=safari&hl=en-gb&prmd=ivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjT856Sp7fOAhXKs48KHa7KB-QQ_AUIBygB&biw=375&bih=559

I hope their factory burns to the ground.

This just means Brickset is popular! XD

LEGO: Clone Wars

Now they've crossed the line!

Ouch. Just... ouch. This is absurd beyond belief.

to be honest, I wouldn't have recognised Brickset's logo.
I reference this site almost daily; use it to keep my inventory of sets (thank you very much); and to check piece counts and weight of sets to help determine sale-price bargains; but the logo has never registered with me.
Sorry.

Copyright is legal garbage that needs tearing to pieces. Trademark enforcement I think is worthwhile though, I couldn't care less about clone brands as long as I can easily tell who made it.

Brickset has become so synonymous with LEGO that it's just rolled into bootlegs...that just means the site is a rousing success :D

I wonder if those are the actual "Lepin" product pictures, or if they are simply Lego's own product pictures? Even the close ups seem to show the Lego logo on each exposed stud. Then of course they ship something that barely fits under the "Spec.'s, colors, and contents vary" description. This practice won't stop until we as consumers stand together, en mass, and stop buying "Made in China" products. Just this last weekend my mom popped up with a surprise for her Lego loving son, and said she'd bought these 20 "Lego" minifigures on a cheap internet site for about 6.00 altogether with shipping. They were almost identical prints to various figures from several themes and even the Collectible Minifigures theme, except the pieces either had to be forced together or went together easily and were loose. The printing on each was sloppy, either smeared, faded, or off center. After I had an unenjoyable 10 min's putting the monstrosities together I felt rather disgusted, put them in a shoe box and don't know if they'll ever see the light of day again, or if they'll just end up in the garbage one day.

Huw you've just worked so hard to create a great brand!

Someone needs to set up a GOFUND ME page so that Huw can go sue these people for disrespecting a trademarked logo and brand.

Cheap bastards

Who suffers from this exactly? I'm sorry, maybe I'm missing something but the only possible thing that could suffer from trademark infringement is a corporation; it doesn't hurt any one person's pocket book or anything like that. And speaking of corporations, is Lego even hurting from these clones? Are the Chinese companies eating into their profits, or is LEGO the number one toy company in the world? This won't hurt Brickset in any way either I'm sure, how can it? It will most definitely cause more money and trouble to pursue it legally.

Lego doesn't care for a reason; because they're doing great despite the imitators out there. We should all probably relax a little bit, realize there are worse things out there in the world to worry about, and let a little bit of imitation go by the wayside. Besides, I can assure you that it's not done in a malicious way whatsoever; not everyone thinks the way we do over here in the West, that's all.

^if you had a great idea and someone stole that idea and made money off it ,
How would you feel?

OK, got about half way through, and needed to add this, sorry if already up...

China and copyright. A small (not well known company in China even) phone manufacturer is suing Apple for copyright infringement as a phone they have copyrighted is similar to that of the i(k)-phone 6 (or is it 7), which means if they win, Apple has to stop selling these phones, and should recall all the ones they have sold already... along with paying a hefty fine/compensation for breach of copyright...

The thing is, in the courts, the small company is winning, as their copyright filing was 3 weeks before Apple...

And to rub salt in the wound, the company has filed the copyright, but does not even make the phone... so even if the ik phone is withdrawn, there is not a product matching the copyright physically on the market to replace it...

Copyright law works very well in China, if that is you are Chinese and going against a foreign company...

So with Lego products being sold all over the world, if someone copies it, has a copyright notice been filed for that exact product/mix of bricks/design of finished article, or whatever to protect them?? If someone else has (even if they don't actually make or distribute it), then it will become illegal for LEGO to sell their own products in the country, leaving all those profits (gained from not paying for development etc.) to be earned by another company....

Yeah, it can hurt some some companies in the long run...

The notion that you cannot sue them or do anything about it is nonsense. We have the international courts for expressly this purpose. Lego has in the past managed to destroy counterfeiters products.

Disgusting.

Still not as cool as the SOLDIER Rahaga with Darth Vader heads. :P

This is just frustrating.

WOW!

Ah the complexities of laying down the Lego law. It's popular, let's copy it! Someone in the comments earlier mentioned why there isn't a building blocks brand making its own themes and sets to make its own fan base. Would be a very good question, but then you could say why go up against real Lego? (When you can copy it)

Sadly, this will continue until the Chinese Government decides it shouldn't. Which means until the next World War shakes world politics up.

Well, as Umandraug says, it will continue until the Chinese government decides it shouldn't (because it gets no benefit from it I will infer from this)...

So lets think about the companies in China:

About 60% are government owned / sponsored;
About 30% are family run, with input (funding, or a strong "interest") in them by the government;
about 10% are family run, wth no interest from the government, as they are too small to bother with...

When a foreign firm enters China to trade, it has to do so in partnership with a Chinese company (and chosen from a list supplied by the government, which will own 51% of the company shares), which will have strong links to the government...

So if a foreign firm in China wants to sue a Chinese company in China for copyright infringement, it is often discouraged, as it basically ends up as the government suing the government... Although if it does happen, all the fees and fines are paid by the foreign firm (not the Chinese side), although awards will be made to the Chinese partner if the company wins, so it does come down to a case "Why bother" quite often...

This is one of the reason companies used the economic collapse to cut ties and get out of China when they could... it was valid excuse that did not breach the contract they had signed (which any breach on your side will be strictly enforced, but any on their side will be negotiated away, or "Are you sure, that is not what our copy of the contract says" (thrusting a piece of paper written in Chinese in your face), and the Chinese version (no matter how different) is the legal copy of the contract...

I have no problems with companies such as Mega BLOKS, since their sets and bricks are actually designed by the MEGA BLOKs company. I dislike companies that copy LEGO's set and Minifigure designs. I do think it is quite tempting to buy knock off versions of rare Minifigures, dinosaurs and sets.

I just don't have the money to afford knockoffs.

You gonna sue 'em? :P

I was curious and there's tons of the Lepin on ebay. I have to say i was shocked. I remember months ago talking to customer service about a order, and that i personally thought the new factory in china was a huge mistake. I hope the quality of lego out of china does not diminish. But i have a long memory and know things have gotten worse when made in the USA or EU then farmed out to china.

Side note i did report the stuff on ebay. Pretty sure they won't do anything. But it will end my purchases from them.

Edit. From ebay, i don't buy knockoffs

As a Chinese speaker, I found its official website:
http://www.littlecompanion.cn/index.asp?Language=En
http://www.littlecompanion.cn/index.asp?Language=Ch

It does show which street they're at, but no number.

It is kind of a back-handed compliment they "stole" your logo. There was a Top Gear segment a few years ago about Chinese cars, BMW tried to sue a company for a look - a - like BMW x5, and BMW lost...even though the cars looked identical...the Chinese government / courts will not side with a foreign company against one of their own. Sad state of affairs, but that is the situation unfortunately...

In this case, wouldn't it have been better with a british court judging by british law?

Some people seem to think that LEGO deserves that because it is more expansive. They seem to forget that it is LEGO that drives R&D, marketing, and that it is also LEGO that supports the AFOL community. You can ALWAYS produce things cheaper if you just copy the design and manufacture in countries with lower labour costs. It's called freeriding...

What the....Lepin are such rip offs!!I have no idea how they can produce their own Disney Castle?! Why haven't they beeb sued yet?! At least there aren't any for sale in Australia.

Wait! Did you use these photos of Little Companie Toys without asking the manufacturer first? Maybe these sets are under an embargo, to be released later on in the year. :D

That's wierd!!

Spotted these on a recent trip over to Asia, the logo gave me a serious deja vu and now i realize why! But them targeting Brickset!? The villains!

@MiniFigFiend: If you were allowed to copy designs and patterns freely nobody would have any incentive to make product design investments. That would impede economic growth and is why Western countries have patent systems and copyright laws. In fact, good protection of intellectual rights is an important reason for the West's prosperity.

Brilliant!

Well, it's a way to get a Café Corner? Bought mine for $65, colours and bricks identical to original.

@welldontaskme--You know that the Chinese factory isn't that new, right? It's been around since at least 2009, and maybe before.

the bootleg creators are just some idiots trying to get fame by coping products and making it "theirs" and everytime we message them "BOOTLEG FACTORY Y U DO DIS?" they dont reply. i just dont understand.

I'll be a bit of the contrarian here. I don't think it is acceptable to create bootleg knock-offs—and to reuse a Brickset logo just reveals the lack of identity these Bottom of Pyramid sets have. But TLG is not losing distribution, retail facings or access to critical consumers in that these exist. Rather they fuel the very positioning that Lego desires.

LEGO has too much to lose in its premium positioning were it to cater to BoP demand. And that these sets exist only further undergird the difference between functionality and brand leadership, recognition and aura.

Of course, were any of these products connected to any Lego supply chain vendors, I'd cut their business. But otherwise, the best recourse with consumers is for Lego to continue its brand, product and UX positioning awesomeness.

With China we have made a deal with the devil, and we will pay in many many ways

This is very unfortunate and something to think when I am designing my company.

Big companies like TLG are very well aware of the implications of setting up production in China, the fact that they still proceed with it tells you they view their bottomline more than anything else. So seeing copycat Lego sets definitely won't surprise them in the least, and they obviously had figured out that the savings (i.e. profit) from the China plant far outweighs the impact done by the copycats.

Mind you, the same goes for every single big corporation that sets up factory in China. They're all willing to take risk of their products being copied in exchange for lowest manufacturing costs and access to the biggest potential market in the world.

As to the Lepin Castle, it is just a preorder and actual product is not out yet. It is likely Lepin will wait for the Lego set to be released and 2 to 3 months later make it available. After all, they have to copy the brick inventory list and modify the original instructions.

I'd love to see a review of a couple of those crappy sets. Tear them a new one! :)

Some of my art was once stolen from a foreign website to promote a product. I was validly disappointed to see my art used in that way, but I was also flattered my art was attractive enough to be borrowed in such a way.

Obviously, my piece of art was a minor picture and not a logo for a major website with a large following, but I think most Brickset users are smart enough to know the difference between counterfeit and real LEGO :)

I am not a lawyer: Very annoying behaviour, unfortunately China’s Trademark Law adopts the first to file principle, which grants exclusive trademark rights to the party that applies to register the mark first in China. So question one would be has Brickset registered in China?

If not, presumably Brickset has very limited protection. Brickset would have to show that, within China itself, the logo has a high degree of existing recognition and is widely recognised as being the Brickset logo.

Shame

Treachery!!!

I noticed that Aliexpress is the WORST site when it comes to selling knock-offs. If enough of us contact LEGO and even Disney about this (giving the link below to them as proof), they might do something about it considering their servers store EVERYTHING anyone contacts them with. My brother bought a creator knock-off from there despite me showing my displeasure, but he later regretted it because they were EXTREMELY painful to put together/take apart. Serves him right! :D

Here's the link: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/4080Pcs-NEW-2016-LEPIN-16008-Cinderella-Princess-Castle-Model-Building-Kits-Minifigures-Block-Bricks-Toys/32708320546.html?spm=2114.40010708.4.8.huD8IG