Oligarch sues Lego

[SpacePolice89]

The South African oligarch Elon Musk has sued Lego for not advertising on his X/Twitter social media platform. For me this sounds completely ridiculous. How can a company be obliged to advertise on certain platform or website?  Is there even a remote chance that he will win?

https://jaysbrickblog.com/news/lego-elon-musk-twitter-lawsuit-trump-mexico-tariffs/

[icm]

Just one more sad sign that we all live in the Aslume :(

[CloneCommando99]

I’ve had enough of Musk these past few months.

[SpacePolice89]

7 minutes ago, icm said:

Just one more sad sign that we all live in the Aslume :(

And the inmates are running it.

[BrickBob Studpants]

We live in the worst timeline.

[Renny The Spaceman]

No way he wins it, generally there's not a rule saying you have to keep advertising children's toys on a site full of Nazis. Like basic free market capitalism is companies will stop advertising in places that could make them look bad and scare off customers. 

[Lyichir]

It's ridiculous. The legal ground is dubious even with the court system as compromised as it is. Mostly it's probably meant to intimidate—less scrupulous companies might fold rather than enter a costly legal battle with the president's right hand man—but I hope Lego has the sense to stand up to this kind of bullying.

As an American one of my more pressing concerns (at least staying on the subject of Lego, since there's obviously a lot of scary non-Lego-related news in the air) is the tariffs mentioned in the same article. Lego for the U.S. is still manufactured mainly in Mexico, and while the U.S. has historically had pretty favorable prices here compared to some countries, that could change if Lego has to pay atrocious fees on every shipment past the border (especially if the tariffs aren't retracted soon). There's a U.S. factory under construction in my home state but it's still several years out (and given how chaotic things are in this country right now, anything could happen between now and then to jeopardize that).

[Yoggington]

8 hours ago, SpacePolice89 said:

Is there even a remote chance that he will win?

Unfortunately there is a slim chance despite common sense.

The comment section on that article is an absolute mess. One of the worst parts about the current American Political regime is that it brings out the worst in everyone.

Edited February 3 by Yoggington

[SpacePolice89]

6 hours ago, Yoggington said:

Unfortunately there is a slim chance despite common sense.

The comment section on that article is an absolute mess. One of the worst parts about the current American Political regime is that it brings out the worst in everyone.

Lego should be protected by the First Amendment (freedom of association) and also the lack of laws forcing companies to advertise in specific places. I'm mostly worried that the widespread corruption and criminality in the current regime will affect the court system.

[BrickBob Studpants]

39 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

I'm mostly worried that the widespread corruption and criminality in the current regime will affect the court system.

It already has, just look at SCOTUS. A constitution isn‘t worth the paper it was written on if nobody enforces it.

[CloneCommando99]

52 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

Lego should be protected by the First Amendment (freedom of association) and also the lack of laws forcing companies to advertise in specific places. I'm mostly worried that the widespread corruption and criminality in the current regime will affect the court system.

My honest reaction to the situation. 

 

Republicans and the Trump administration (Musk with a huge role within it) have majority control over the Senate, the Courts and the White House.

(And now there’s the taxation of trade routes. Is George Lucas a time traveler?)

 

I’d say that Musk will have a little less opposition within the US court system than he should have normally.

Internationally I’m not so sure.

(On another note, if Trump does tariff the EU, Lego might get a whole lot more expensive for ya’ll across the pond)

 

Edited February 3 by CloneCommando99

[SpacePolice89]

15 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

It already has, just look at SCOTUS. A constitution isn‘t worth the paper it was written on if nobody enforces it.

Yes, that's unfortunately true. Even if Lego and the other companies are right a corrupt court can disregard the law. Fortunately many parts of the system are still working but I'm still very worried about the future. This is how it started in Russia and Hungary. I hope there is still some law and order left when this goes to court. At least Lego and the other companies have very good lawyers.

[Renny The Spaceman]

36 minutes ago, CloneCommando99 said:

I’d say that Musk will have a little less opposition within the US court system than he should have normally.

Internationally I’m not so sure.

 

Well we're likely next on the chopping board if Musk isn't stopped given how he wanted to do give the same support he gave to trump to Farage. Musk's plan is to just buy elections and make the Fascist party win each time.

[aFrInaTi0n]

I have the feeling this discussion may get very political fastly. Before that drifts off too far into opinions and them being different, I would like to kindly ask people to calm down.

Your opinion may be ok for you, as the opinion of another person may be fine for his/her. I think we can be happy to be different.

I just hope we are not falling down a rabbithole here..

[JesseNight]

9 hours ago, Lyichir said:

As an American one of my more pressing concerns (at least staying on the subject of Lego, since there's obviously a lot of scary non-Lego-related news in the air) is the tariffs mentioned in the same article. Lego for the U.S. is still manufactured mainly in Mexico, and while the U.S. has historically had pretty favorable prices here compared to some countries, that could change if Lego has to pay atrocious fees on every shipment past the border (especially if the tariffs aren't retracted soon). There's a U.S. factory under construction in my home state but it's still several years out (and given how chaotic things are in this country right now, anything could happen between now and then to jeopardize that).

Yeah those tariffs will likely be felt in prices of stuff.
We already have it in EU for many years on everything imported from outside EU. It was once created "to help the EU market & production", but of course that's not how reality works. Production will go to countries it's cheaper to produce, and tariffs will land on those importing it back, who will move it to the customers instead of paying it out of their own pockets of course. So in the end it just resulted in price increases on lots of products that will remain in demand either way, and that remain being produced in cheaper countries or aren't even available as EU products to begin with.
[sarcasm] Welcome to the club, US...

As for X sueing Lego, that's just ridiculous in caps. If that's gonna happen for real, I hope no judge is foolish enough to actually go with it.

[aFrInaTi0n]

I would just get back to X with "yeah, if we would have done it, it would have let us down in regard of our expectations, which you can see from our imaginary - totally made up - projected losses in figure 1, which we - you may have guessed it already - are now demanding to be covered by X" *cough 🤭

[Autumn]

It's the antithesis of a free market, freedom of association, and freedom of speech (which M*sk loves to harp on about). I thought being successful through capitalism was about creating a superior product in a competitive market, not by extortion and bullying?

I hope TLG (and many others) don't give in to it.

[RichardGoring]

18 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said:

I’ve had enough of Musk these past few months years.

Fixed it for you.

The problem with tariffs is that you can't predict the end result, especially with such sweeping changes that are proposed. Even if LEGO does speed up the opening of the US factory (although full capacity is only supposed to happen in 2027), the cost of raw materials, the supply chain, and general inflationary rise that comes with tariffs are likely to impact costs in some form or other, so it's highly likely that prices will increase as a result.

I just hope that it's BS posturing from Trump and that he doesn't actually go through with it. Not just for the sake of LEGO prices.

[Mylenium]

16 hours ago, Renny The Spaceman said:

No way he wins it...

They're suing for damages with malicious intent. That's a whole different thing from amendment rights. People and other legal entities have been awarded money for all sorts of strange things, usually in a settlement. LEGO withdrawing and making a fuss about it could count as some sort of bad act. The real question is, though, what's in those contracts and what policies are stipulated there. Did the contract just expire or was not renewed? Was it handled through some third party? Does the legalese contain a "No f***s given" clause that would have allowed them to cancel their commitment any time? It will depend on these things. I would agree that chances are slim that X "wins" in the legal sense, but I wouldn't say it's impossible. At the very least they're gonna squeeze out a few million of the companies sued, be that by offering them specific conditions and getting them back on or coaxing them with the threat of long and costly legal proceedings...

Mylenium

13 hours ago, Lyichir said:

As an American one of my more pressing concerns (at least staying on the subject of Lego, since there's obviously a lot of scary non-Lego-related news in the air) is the tariffs mentioned in the same article. Lego for the U.S. is still manufactured mainly in Mexico, and while the U.S. has historically had pretty favorable prices here compared to some countries, that could change if Lego has to pay atrocious fees on every shipment past the border (especially if the tariffs aren't retracted soon).

Well, miraculously a lot of companies in such situations seem to realize how cheaply they can produce stuff and how they have overcharged customers. Point in case: They'll probably rather take the hit to their revenue than raise prices and lose customers. You know, making a penny on the dollar is still better than making nothing.

Mylenium

[JohnTPT17]

1 hour ago, RichardGoring said:

I just hope that it's BS posturing from Trump and that he doesn't actually go through with it. Not just for the sake of LEGO prices.

Exactly. Yeah, we all love Legos here, but there's far more important things that the US buys and sells that will really throw things out of whack if they suddenly become more expensive - medical supplies, electronics, lumber, etc. No one at the national level is doing this to get back at Lego specifically - they're just getting caught in the crossfire with these tariffs. 

I am still going to try to remain optimistic that these are all just strong-arm tactics and they don't actually stick around for long. If it's short enough, Lego may even be able to ride out just based on inventory they already have in Illinois - possibly weeks, maybe a few months for some things. But if we get to July (or maybe next week - I don't really know how these things work) and everything is still getting locked down, prices will almost certainly go up. Just based on how big the US market is, how many sets are targeted towards the US (Twilight House, the numerous sitcom sets), and how many business partners Lego has in the US (Disney being the biggest), I don't think Lego will be able to pull out entirely. 

And this is all just for Legos - something which, at the end of the day, is not a necessity. There's potential for way more issues to come in the short and long term from recent political moves.

(That's all I'm going to say for politics, though)

[dr_spock]

Win or lose, the corporate lawyers still get paid and can buy LEGO.

 

[RichardGoring]

2 hours ago, JohnTPT17 said:

...

And this is all just for Legos - something which, at the end of the day, is not a necessity...

Err... have you just broken the forum rules most egregiously there? 

[Murdoch17]

49 minutes ago, RichardGoring said:

Err... have you just broken the forum rules most egregiously there? 

As far as I know, saying LEGO without an S is not a Forum rule... LEGO might not like it,  it may not be proper, and it certainly dilutes the brand, but it's not against the rules @JohnTPT17. (Just in case you didn't know)

[BrickBob Studpants]

1 minute ago, Murdoch17 said:

As far as I know, saying LEGO without an S is not a Forum rule... LEGO might not like it,  it may not be proper, and it certainly dilutes the brand, but it's not against the rules @JohnTPT17. (Just in case you didn't know)

I think @RichardGoring meant calling LEGO „not a necessity“  But yeah, I’m in favour of bringing out the ban hammer for using „LeGoS“

[JohnTPT17]

9 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

I think @RichardGoring meant calling LEGO „not a necessity“  But yeah, I’m in favour of bringing out the ban hammer for using „LeGoS“

If you ban me, then I'll just make you pay a Gold Brick to read everyone one of my comments! Then we'll see who wins 

That being said - I'm fine with calling Legos "Legos." I know why it's improper, but I really don't care - and there's far more important things to worry about with Legos anyways.

And as far as possible US tariffs go, apparently they have been delayed for Mexico by at least a month now.