Police raid Lepin factory; owner arrested

What great news! These intellectual crooks have been operating with impunity for way too long, blatantly ripping off Lego in product and design.

Good, very good. Hope an end to these imposters and thieving individuals.

Btw: Squalid? Gotta love the English language! :)

Great news! Do we have any confirmation that this is 100% true? Also, sorry Lego and all Lego fans, but I just had to laugh at The Lepin Movie 2. Imagine a Lepin copy of the actual Lego movie!

PRC for IPR? Respect! I'm shocked, but humbled & delighted.

I thought today was good with Avengers Endgame tickets, but this news makes it an excellent day!!

No doubt another factory will spring up somewhere in the merk of the China factory smoke.. but this is sending the right signal to the crooks!

Just 90 molds? Means this was just a small warehouse raid. Lepin must have dozens of much bigger factories that still operate considering how many different parts a typical set has. So this news is just police propaganda but a good start nevertheless. They need to catch the big fish.
Seems TLG made an impact with Shanghai and Beijing store openings and the lawsuits. Now they can start to expand their empire.

I am afraid others will come into it's place. Still, well done.

"the criminal gang suspected of infringing the copyright" What a strange description of them. I mean its true, but its certainly not something you see every day

gg

Nice to see Chinese authorities actually bothering with international copyright law for once rather then blatently ignoring it as they have with the many other products they've stolen IP on.

Great news!

I hope they'll recycle all of the tons and tons of paper and plastic, and not just throw them away.

Unfortunately to seriously combat piracy in China, Lego needs to engage in some sorts of brand awareness campaigns, since a large consumer base of counterfeit Lepin bricks are either parents who don't know any better, or poorer families to whom Lego products are considered luxuries outside their wage range. Lego can at least do something about the former, not to mention the lack of quality and hazards of counterfeit toys such as toxicity. Kids growing up in developing countries generally don't have the luxury of having toy store chains selling legit toys or even established toy brands, and most of the toys I had growing up in China were either no name or counterfeit brands.

China is adhering to its court system. The arrest demonstrates that the legal system is working for Lego. They sued in China and they have won in China.

When is The Lepin Bricks 2 movie coming out? Can't wait to see the adventures of Gremmet and Wildstix.

Sometimes the LEGO hobby can be very exciting and hectic. I mean, like, actual police arrests? Thrilling!

About time...this is great news, hopefully the first of many such raids.

While the crackdown is good news generally, I hope the shutdown is done with dignity. I imagine that the people lined up during the raid are possibly just low paid workers. They may not even be aware that they are part of an illegal venture. The people who need to be arrested are those who make money out of the scheme.

Dear All, including LEPIN & LEGO fans,
I do not support theft of intellectual property of others. I do not stealing others' innovation is sold by our production.

But I do not support overpricing!!!! what LEGO does. I think it is too much hype with branded sets, losing a real building experience (which was the 90's) - In the 2000s the World City themes had oversized and more-simplified sets, and there were no real building joy. I think, price, construction joy, not in harmony with each other. See new Creator (C.Expert) sets. ((old sets (2 yrs or older) could be much cheaper, sold via lego webstore. But this financial economical model not compatible with capitalism & extraprofit))
Lepin's fault with 1: 1 copying is clear - but not the fault of "very similar" product release (as I know the protection of bricks expired). I mean there is a 2000-pcs set from LEGO, and LEPIN copies the bricks, but NOT the whole set - but accidentally a very similar model comes out of the bricks. It could be stealing innovation or not?

I can't stop imagining the Hardy Boys successful cracking this case. After getting kidnapped and roughed up, at least once or twice.

About time. Very glad this has happened. I hope TLG can protect their IP more effectively in China and elsewhere from now on.

Actually a bit of a shame that it's gone down this route.

Wait, hear me out!

The best thing LEGO could do is license their old, OOP sets for a willing company (it seems one already exists!) to manufacture & distribute for sale to people who missed out and who don't want to pay scalpers' prices. I am certain that I'm not alone on here at having being very, very close to buying Lepin copies of sets that go for silly money.

If such a LEGO\Lepin arrangement ensures that it doesn't impinge upon sales of current LEGO sets, where is the harm?

As a LEGO Star Wars fan this is great news! Making brick models is one thing but they just stole everything from LEGO, the designs, art, etc.
I own the 75192 Falcon and know a few people that have "the same one" but from Lepin, which is just a cheap rip-off.

If Lego kept its prices down. Collectors / buyers would buy more genuine Lego. But there are those who can't afford it for themselves or for their kids. I dont agree with copyright but lepin and other copycats paid Lego contributions for there designs. Then maybe it will keep everyone happy & profitable. DC & Marvel Lego are great but not enough minifigures. With the copycats they made all sorts of Minifigures for DC & Marvel. I like the bigfigs. Think about others who are less unfortunate can't buy Lego.

The comments about pricing ?
People will pirate a 10p item (& others will buy it.)

Interesting use of emotive language in the article- new career in red top newspaper journalism? :-)

lets hope Lego REDUCE the price on their sets as a token to us all - real customers.

Maybe a contender for the police sub-theme next year? Counterfeit Warehouse Raid would make a nice set

Wow! Seeing the conditions that Lepin products are made, I hate them even more than I did before. Go Shanghai Police!

There is presumption that people who bought lepin would buy instead Lego if lepin ceased to exist. I am not sure that a lot of families can afford Lego so easily. I'm personally focusing on Lego original as collecting minifigures but I know that Lego is for some families simply out of their price range and instead of Chinese clones will just get some other toy instead.

Good to see that China adheres to IP laws but Lego needs to rethink if this constant price inflating is just alienates a lot of young customers. Even minifigs in my country has more than doubled in price from series one to today's series.

I hope they were all wearing a red sweater and a black or dark gray hat, while being surrounded by helicopters...

Pretty weird to find all this defending of Lepin in the comments though.

From the UK based comments you can see some people here love their cheap, counterfeit, lower quality items.
Now about that EU backstop...

While this is definitely good news for Lego and Lego fans, including myself, I just can’t help but feel the destruction was a bit to far. I may be happy that Lepin has seen what happens for counterfeiting Lego, but the actions of destroying all of their stuff seems a bit too violent. Talk about being “master breakers”.

I would never sully my collection with product that rips off LEGO IP in the way Lepin does.
I own some BrickArms, some BrickForge and various custom prints on real LEGO pieces (e.g. Citizen Brick) but all of those complement LEGO rather than competing with it.

Be nice if the scumbags running this show ended up in a hellhole jail for a few years (or decades) to act as a deterrent.

I get this is our passion, and these people were technically criminals, but the word usage in the article and comments is a bit overboard, no?

Let's keep some perspective: they sold cheap copies of toys; they weren't murderers or rapists.

I would say that this whole story, and the accompanying pictures, is typical staged Chinese propaganda. The earnest police man gesticulating to the completely passive faces of the "criminals" is almost assuredly a puppet show. Reminds me of photos that come out of North Korea. Fake news to demonstrate fake following of the law.
Lepin is without a doubt an illegal operation, but I will say that their minifigures don't crack like the Lego ones do. The printing rubs off, the heads often fit loosely and slide right off, and the hands often don't fit in the arms, but they don't crack. Lego could learn a lesson in plastic integrity from this squalid gang of criminals.

I fully support the right of legit Chinese building block companies to create original building sets. I'll never buy them, but this is legit business and fills a niche for people who cannot afford lego.

Lepin and other parasites are scum of the earth who should burn. And no, Lego cannot just license out their older stuff - it would forever harm their brand image since they would not be able to control quality and perception would be that it's their product. Anyone who visits a TLG factory will see piles of perfectly good parts sitting in boxes waiting to be sent for recycling due to suspected flaws or perhaps even due to suspected contact with humans. Think licensees would do the same?

Token effort at most

Meanwhile Alibaba continues to sell them.....

@nerzhin
What are you doing to your minifigures!? In well over a decade of collecting, I've only had one minifigure part break. (A dark red torso) Now, if you want to criticize the brittleness of reddish brown parts, I'm totally on board, but Lego's minifigs are sturdy.

Ooh come on! You are not all that naive, are you?!
Intellectual property infringement, and copyright theft is rampant in China, and the Chinese government facilitates it, and allows it. This is just a public relations stunt, even if these Lepin people will rot away in a prison somewhere for the remainder of their lives. More Lego ripoff brands will continue to pop-up and flourish. But hey! Western companies just feel compelled to enter the Chinese market, even if this leads to corporate espionage and the afore mentioned problems of IP & copyright theft etc. as well as restrictions and requirements by the Chinese government with the goal of obtaining all the know-how of these western corporations.

Drug cartels in Mexico pull this same stunt. Let the cops make a small bust (compared to the whole operation.) then pressure is off. Do not be fooled, just keep choosing to buy legally... or be part of the problem.

I'm failing to see from those four photos where you're seeing "squalor" or filth. It looks about the same as any other factory mold/jig room and packing room in the region. It's not a medical clean room or an electronics assembly room. It's a plastics production factory's back office, so to speak. The comment stands out as the author's inexperience with the facilities of production for modern injection-molded plastics consumer goods. :)

As far as the product itself, I've never owned or held any, but judging by Youtube reviews it was an inferior product that also stole from Lego IP, so I'm good with their demise. I won't rejoice in the downfall of others as I'm not bloodthirsty, but I am rather pleased to see fake Lego be taken off the market.

on the other hand, many of the innocent people who worked in this factory lost their jobs, that s sad

@David1985: The patent for the stud-and-tube brick lapsed in the late 80s, and we can probably safely assume that many other older basic parts are likewise no longer protected by patents. But LEGO still has active patent protections on many of their newer elements, including:
• the roller coaster system
• Duplo Push-And-Go train motors
• Juniors/4+ interlocking base plates
• Super Jumpers
• Airjitzu spinners and launchers
• Stud shooters
• Speedorz
• the inside support ridges on many modern bricks: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/09/28/01/55284c039d03d0/WO2014009345A1.pdf
• the Character and Creature Building System: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/66/41/e6/1b4b57c485d7df/WO2012052541A1.pdf
• design patents on various mini-doll elements: e.g. https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/87/1c/69/2fcfa3ef7061fa/USD672412.pdf, https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/4d/e1/68/d88d735cb69459/USD689568.pdf, and https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/80/9f/af/224f485bc49d95/USD675683.pdf
• design patents on various building elements: e.g. https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/f0/ce/4b/2ede349e83d6ad/USD830477.pdf, https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/e4/8b/c1/fcffae18379ce4/USD771200.pdf, https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/95/55/82/e43296abc8ec3c/USD757861.pdf, https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/b4/d6/66/1245ad0780087e/USD614707.pdf, vhttps://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/33/09/a2/d7c3a39d27fe44/USD688328.pdf, etc.

Suffice to say, there are probably a LOT of parts Lepin has produced that infringed on active, protected patents.

@1947andallthat: The Chinese government protects Chinese businesses. Now that LEGO has their own factory and regional headquarters in China that employ thousands of workers, they ARE a Chinese business.

Which businesses do you think China would rather focus on protecting: the massive and prestigious multi-national corporation that has invested massive amounts of money in establishing a presence in China, and has a strong PR incentive to adhere to government regulations? Or the shady knock-off manufacturer that gives the country a bad reputation and clearly has no issue violating laws and regulations in order to cut costs?

Also, regarding Lego prices.. They don't have a monopoly on bread, milk and cheese. I don't personally care for Megablox, but they're at least a legal company with their own designs and less expensive. I can't afford a BMW so I have a Ford Focus. So what. The world doesn't owe you anything. Toys used to be made of sticks bound together.

Rant over =D

I wonder how this will affect independent toy stores in Asia, if at all? When I was living in Hong Kong, I saw countless small family-run toy stores selling knock-off Lego. Will they still be able to survive against large chain-stores and malls if they can't sell a 'competing' (albeit illegal) product?

In the same way that small independent toy stores have disappeared from the market-place / high-street in the West, perhaps these are all destined to fade-out too. Has the success of Lego hailed the demise of small toy stores that can't access distribution rights or afford the capital to purchase Lego in the first-place to sell-on?

When Lego wins, someone loses...

I don't believe the answer is condoning illegal copies, but what can large companies like Lego do to give back to the indigenous markets they are seeking to profit from? I guess I want to know what Lego considers as it's 'corporate responsibility' strategy. I'm sure they have one somewhere.

VERY unsure about all this. On one hand Lepin is a shady operation ripping off Lego's models, box art and some active patents, and personally I wouldn't have anything to do with such knock-offs even if I got them for free. On the other hand, today's "intellectual property" (aargh, what a grating term!) rules are totally out of whack. I can accept 20-year regular and 15-year design patents, the problems comes with 95+ year copyrights and ever-lasting trademarks.

The main issue with copyrights are that terms has became WAY too long, and has in essence became infinite due to the "Mickey Mouse" principle of extending them every time Steamboat Willie is about to enter public domain. This is a far more serious problem than not being able to watch old Disney movies for free, like how it prevents re-use of old works to create something new, "orphaned works" risking getting lost, constant undermining of the "fair use" principle and how EVERY part of recent (and not-so-recent) culture is the private property of some corporation that can do anything they want with it, including changing it beyond recognition or refusing distribution at any price.

Trademarks has also became troublesome, as they in essence has became ever-lasting patents. A trademark is supposed to be just that, a protection of the identification of a product's origin. In Lego's case that would include the "Lego" name, the red square logo, and the stamping of the word LEGO on the studs. Unfortunately companies has lobbied for over-extending the definition of a "trademark" to also including the design of the product itself, which really is the domain of utility and design patents. So when Lego claims the design of the minifigure (and even the 2x4 brick!) to be a trademark, I'd say that's Grade A Bullshit and should be opposed at any opportunity.

So while I do agree that creative efforts deserve reasonable protection from getting ripped off, the key word is "reasonable" and today's rules are far from that. Unfortunately politicians and the public have been totally sold by the tear-jerking image of the starving artist or hard-working inventor getting denied fair compensation for their work, while in truth most patents and copyrights are owned by massive megacorporations and used to fortify their power. As things stands I really think we actually need some countries/regions with a laxer attitude towards "intellectual property" - while it may not be "right" in legal or moral sense it also acts a necessary safety valve against global corporate domination.

BTW, only the first picture (the one on with the blue and brown crates) actually loads, the other four just shows up as "broken".

"Burn them", "Victory", "happy day", "kill their offsprings". Such emotional comments here, for a company that produced counterfeit toys. Why is that ? What's the reason for the joy ? Are you investing in Lego stocks ? Can't enjoy original sets regardless of their after market value? I think it's legit that they're pursuing them, but don't understand the demand to see blood from you guys here in the comments.

The mighty Empire destroys a small Rebel outpost and claims victory. I've got a baaaad feeling about this....

Its a real shame to see people defending Lepin. Good on the police for destroying their evil activities! Remember, if this was going on in say, Europe (or Australia for that matter) , the police wouldnt be allowed to raid the place because that would be 'racist' and the perpetrators would all get off because they had 'a troubled childhood' or 'depression' or 'demons told them to do it'.

Its about time law enforcement (of any country) set an example to criminal swines. You commit a serious offence, you get seriously punished and your stuff destroyed. All Lepin profits should be confiscated and divided 50/50 between Lego (to be distributed among employees) and the Chinese government (to be distributed to people in need).

And about the workers being arrested. They knew what they were doing. There are plenty of poor/disadvantaged people in the world who always do the right thing so we shouldnt take pity on those who chose to do wrong.

Also, maybe the 2020 Fake Lego Squad City police theme could include a Lego Jackie Chan! Perhaps the theme could be called Police Story....

@chewron99,

The cost we pay for sets arrives from more than the cost to make parts. The cost to design new parts, also to research possible new designs, topics, themes, and public wants is part of set cost.

Lepin was able to sell sets at such a low price because they carried out no intellectual research for their product. They simply made bricks that allowed them to copy Lego designs.

Lego has a higher cost due to the design and development. Lego will not continue to sell (as you described older sets at lower cost) because those sets actually become unwanted by buyers.

Yes, we AFOL fanatics would buy them, but the cost to store, inventory, and maintain out-of-date sets would actually make selling older sets very expensive.

Many countries apply taxes to any industry that produces product for both their unsold items and the supplies they own to make future product.

You described Lego as attempting to make major profits when other options could exist. Sadly, what you described is not very possible. Lego could not just produce sets and sell them at a lower price years later. The cost to store - and the taxation of stored items - allows for only the current model of business to apply for a business the size of Lego.

I can't help but feel for the workers-- both those in the factory and those who researched and recreated designs-- who now have to hope to find another job. Just because they worked there doesn't mean they knew about, or supported if they did, Lepin's calculated theft of intellectual property.

We can be glad the thieves are, at least on some level, brought down, but to take pleasure in what has happened to the workers is cruel and demonstrates a lack of empathy as well as highlights one's own security and privilege, one's luck at being born into circumstances that make such a life unimaginable, or the luck of being part of a culture that, for those not immediately born into such a life, supports making one's way there (typically at great cost and effort for the person striving to improve their situation, but that's another discussion).

Play well, wish well. There's no harm in not wishing harm, is there?

Dear Lego,

Please stop producing in China until they clean up their act (if ever). China claims that the entity behind Lepin is a "criminal gang" which is complete BS. Of course it was a well financed and well known company to China, but the Chinese government finally decided to act and distance themselves from Lepin once LEGO got tough and threatened to move their production back to other less shady countries.

China doesn't deserve to make money off the West's best and most creative entities until it respects the copyrighted ideas of others. I'd be happy to pay an extra buck or even an extra 10% on Lego knowing they weren't produced in China, but unfortunately I think for most consumers nothing matters other than a low price. Hopefully I'm wrong and more have a conscience about the circumstances behind the products that they purchase than I think.