Is A Moron In A Hurry Confused Between Plastic Building Blocks And A Youth Empowerment Charity?
from the stack-those-children-up dept
Tom Kintop was the first of a few of you to send in the news that LEGO, makers of the plastic bricks -- and rather well known for its overly aggressive intellectual property enforcement attempts, which often get shot down -- has sued a small non-profit organization in Minneapolis called Project Legos, where the Legos stands for Leadership, Empowerment, Growth, Opportunity, Sustainability. While both are targeted at children, it's hard to see that the two compete in any way in the same "market." It's difficult to see how there's any confusion here, or how it does LEGO any good suing a small charitable organization. They should send over some LEGO bricks and apologize.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: charity, lego, legos project, trademark
Companies: lego, legos project
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Cobblers!
1 It isn't actually the same word.
2. It isn't actually the same word.
3. It isn't actually the same word
Lego don't have a leg to stand on. If they did then that last sentence would have been trademark infringement - which it isn't
Suitable course of action for Lego (to cover that "defending trademark" nonsense)
Sponsor Legos - using the money you would have spent on the case.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
this one
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: this one
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: this one
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: this one
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
LOOK HERE
Opportunity, Growth, Leadership, Empowerment, Sustainability.
That ought to make the kiddie watchers happy :-/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: LOOK HERE
Who would have a problem with that?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: LOOK HERE
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Project Legos would make me turn and take a second, third or fourth look and i would associate it with Lego - a brand whose products i grew up playing with.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Well you're a moron then!
To me it is obviously different. LEGOS is obviously pronounced like leg oss rather than leg oh s so I wouldn't associate it with the tou at all.
If you have a short trademark like LEGO then you make life really difficult for the rest of us if you attempt to enforce it this strictly.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This moron is a little slow
So, while it would be nice if LEGO cut a charity some slack, I think they are on solid IP ground here.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: This moron is a little slow
No they aren't. You have to be in the same line of business - and Legos isn't supplying toys.
Look at the brand name "Lotus". It can mean a car, a piece of computer software, a water garden supplies company or your local Chinese restaurant. The car company has always been pretty aggressive about its trademark - but they never sued the (now defunct) software company or the garden supplies company or any restaurant.
Being "something to do with children" just isn't close enough. If it came to trial they would lose - but I guess they think the nonprofit can't afford the risk.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ugh
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bullying
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otorohanga
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"They should send over some LEGO bricks and apologize."
;)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This is not even a close question...
Mattel sells toys.
Mattel has a charity foundation called Mattel Foundation which is focused on helping kids.
Some charity comes along that is apparently also focused on helping kids(and knowing of the Mattel name and the fact that it provides toys to kids and perhaps even knowing of the existence of the Mattel Foundation) decides for whatever reason to call itself Project Mattel.
And you guys don't see the potential for confusion?
Assuming the above is correct, if there ever was a reason for trademark laws, this is it - this isn't just confusing to a moron in a hurry issue, this is, as stated above, confusing even to a genius moving at a leisurely pace.
Again, if the facts stated above are correct, LEGO had no choice but to act.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This one though.... I think you're wrong. A children's charity called Project Legos? Like the other commenters I would assume it is toy related and I'm not even in much of a hurry.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Poor word-order choice = infringing acronym
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lego wins this one
Strikes me that the founders of the small charity figured they were being clever by choosing an acronym that played off LEGO's name, but in the end they were just too clever by half.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I am a moron in a hurry
2. This moron is confused. I see it from LEGO's point of view, if this turns out to be a false charity (like the meeks haitian relief fund we have here in NY). It would reflect poorly on the LEGO cor> My fellow rushing moron's would associate the charity with the company. Maybe they should call it "project megablocks".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Suggestive Critisism
Suggestion: If they were to change their name to Project L.E.G.O., it would make me pause from my constant hurry and wonder if there might be a different meaning here instead of instantly assuming they meant the toy blocks.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
LEGOS LEGO
The Minneapolis organization should just spell it with the periods to indicate that it is an acronym (L.E.G.O.S.)
Unfortunately for the earlier suggestion (Opportunity, Growth, Leadership, Empowerment, Sustainability), OGLE is probably trademarked by LEGO as well, since it is the name of the master villain in many of their product adventures...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: LEGOS LEGO
It seems obvious to me that Legos chose the name because of the LEGO company. They could easily have chosen a different acronym order and I suspect they purposely chose this one due to the LEGO similarities.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]