The LEGO Group takes civil actions against LEPIN

[Lyichir]

2 hours ago, ctx1769 said:

The worst that Lepin is doing now is stealing builders most from lego ideas and the rebrickable website without even contacting the builders, totally disgusting  

I mean, it's not like they asked Lego for permission before they stole the actual set designs. It should be no surprise that they'd be perfectly willing to do the same to fan builders if they saw demand for it. Not that you're necessarily one of them, but I find it amusing how many AFOLs are willing to make excuses for the theft of Lego's own set designs by bootleggers but suddenly develop a moral objection to the same happening to them or their fellow builders.

[ctx1769]

Most builders who use rebrickable put up plans for other builders to use, not for a dodgy company to profiteer from. I have built mocs and modifications and left thanks and credit on eurobrick.forums. 

I for one believe theft of any type is wrong and Lepin make much inferior sets than lego anyway but theft is still wrong anyway. 

[Bricksonwheels]

I got ripped as well. The thing is I never posted any instructions or whatever. They copied it from pictures. It lacks detail, but then again it will be sold for USD 38, apparently including electroplated parts! The use of these parts is also something I introduced in the community, so its a double rip. 

[Aethersprite]

8 hours ago, Bricksonwheels said:

I got ripped as well. The thing is I never posted any instructions or whatever. They copied it from pictures. It lacks detail, but then again it will be sold for USD 38, apparently including electroplated parts! The use of these parts is also something I introduced in the community, so its a double rip. 

Oh, dear. That's... really horrible. Profiting off someone else's idea that wasn't meant to churn a profit at all. That's low... Hopefully Lego manages to get something done soon.

[zux]

On 4/22/2017 at 7:53 PM, Bricksonwheels said:

...apparently including electroplated parts! The use of these parts is also something I introduced in the community, so its a double rip. 

Umm, what is so special about it? There are more people chroming parts too.

Those renders are tricky, I don't think chromed parts were replicated, more likely pearl-like (in terms of BL colour naming) parts are used.

[Japanbuilder]

On 2/26/2017 at 2:28 AM, ctx1769 said:

The worst that Lepin is doing now is stealing builders most from lego ideas and the rebrickable website without even contacting the builders, totally disgusting  

Brickset recently posted an article about one clone company in China paying the MOCers for their efforts. 

I feel this outcome is dangerous for MOCers and in general an awful shift in the market. 

Imagine some MOCer getting the hammer thrown on them for giving the build instructions for a Star Wars set and Disney suing them since they are easier to catch. Meanwhile the clone company gets to make money off the now criminally charged MOCer with no worries on their end. 

Now imagine the community becoming hermitical for fear their ideas will be stolen or worse they'll be put in this position of being essentially held to ransom with all the legal risks that come with that while the cloners stay safely out of reach behind the legal system of another country. 

[Bricksonwheels]

16 hours ago, zux said:

Umm, what is so special about it? There are more people chroming parts too.

Those renders are tricky, I don't think chromed parts were replicated, more likely pearl-like (in terms of BL colour naming) parts are used.

 

Indeed there are more chroming, but I was the first to implement chromed bricks in mocs already many years ago, therefor its a thing of interrest to me, and in that sense it feels like more then one idea was taken from me. I know that later on others adapted the idea (chromebricks, etc.), and thats ok, but to see this copied into this set surprised me. Lepin states it is plated as well but I doubt it too. Plated bricks like the ones I have produced are truly chromed with a metal layer, and therefor electrically conductive. This will never be safe with small kids in mass production.

Just for the record; as far as I know none of the Bricklink shops except Bricks4all, is supplying truly chromed (plated) bricks. Chromebricks, Bubul, and Chromeblock City are spray systems. They look quite good but are not true chrome. Many parts from Lego can actually not be chromed by plating as they are not pure ABS, like many Technic parts. My thought is that the parts from Lepin 21023 will be sprayed by system as well. 

 

9 hours ago, Japanbuilder said:

Brickset recently posted an article about one clone company in China paying the MOCers for their efforts. 

I feel this outcome is dangerous for MOCers and in general an awful shift in the market. 

Imagine some MOCer getting the hammer thrown on them for giving the build instructions for a Star Wars set and Disney suing them since they are easier to catch. Meanwhile the clone company gets to make money off the now criminally charged MOCer with no worries on their end. 

Now imagine the community becoming hermitical for fear their ideas will be stolen or worse they'll be put in this position of being essentially held to ransom with all the legal risks that come with that while the cloners stay safely out of reach behind the legal system of another country. 

Yes, true. I got an offer twice from Xingbao. They are willing to give you money for a design, and use your name. Many say that Lepin and Xingbao are the same, but although in the end maybe having the same investors they work very differently.

 

 

 

 

[lightningtiger]

I don't what's worse that company is ripping AFOL designers off or the fact they can not even spell..........BUILERDS....really.......EPIC FAIL.

 

[Capparezza]

2 hours ago, lightningtiger said:

I don't what's worse that company is ripping AFOL designers off or the fact they can not even spell..........BUILERDS....really.......EPIC FAIL.

 

Well, this has some tradition with LEPIN... remember "Star Wrns", no?

I guess that's partially done to circumvent any lawsuits, too... Err, maybe... but maybe it's just "Engrish"? Who knows...

Edited April 24, 2017 by Capparezza

[Brikkyy13]

19 hours ago, Bricksonwheels said:

Yes, true. I got an offer twice from Xingbao. They are willing to give you money for a design, and use your name. Many say that Lepin and Xingbao are the same, but although in the end maybe having the same investors they work very differently.

To me that just says if someone says "no" to Xingbao they get Lepin to make it anyway.

[BrickG]

This is just a problem with China where a lot of the business culture has absolutely no qualms with flat out stealing because it's rarely enforced... 

Now seeing them steal Star Wars and Lego stuff, big things, I knew was wrong but realistically the big companies can easily weather it. I wish them luck in their lawsuits. But then they just steal from the little guys too. There's no limit...

This is something you can take up with your respective representatives via calls and letters. Every little bit helps to put pressure on China to join most of the rest of the world in actually respecting copyright and patent laws and enforcing them (Russia has an issue with this too...).

 

[Lyichir]

11 hours ago, BrickG said:

This is just a problem with China where a lot of the business culture has absolutely no qualms with flat out stealing because it's rarely enforced... 

Now seeing them steal Star Wars and Lego stuff, big things, I knew was wrong but realistically the big companies can easily weather it. I wish them luck in their lawsuits. But then they just steal from the little guys too. There's no limit...

This is something you can take up with your respective representatives via calls and letters. Every little bit helps to put pressure on China to join most of the rest of the world in actually respecting copyright and patent laws and enforcing them (Russia has an issue with this too...).

 

Again, I'd hesitate to chalk it up to a huge difference in culture (even business culture). Many western businesses would probably be just as quick to employ this sort of theft if they could get away with it (as evidenced by the fact that many did so, back when they could). The difference is that most Western countries have a robust system of law that has been built up over generations to protect intellectual property rights (some people might argue that in some cases these protections are TOO strong). China's IP laws are comparatively weak and they have been slow to bring them up to the standards of much of the rest of the world (either through internal reforms or international treaties. And even the laws that do apply can easily be subverted by bribery and corruption within a large government that struggles with bureaucracy.

But even then, there are a range of Chinese businesses ranging from fly-by-night bootleggers to more ethically responsible businesses. And the latter are the ones that generally find greater success in partnerships with Western companies. That's a large part of why I'm generally critical of demands that Lego should withdraw entirely from China and cease production there—I see a company like Lego, which has a great track record for quality, originality, and the treatment of their employees, as a positive force in a country like China in which there are still plenty of businesses that have much more lax labor standards. They can positively affect both individuals (by offering better employment than competitors) and the country's standards as a whole (since by gaining influence in the area Lego can potentially have more success over bootleggers in the legal system, and by demonstrating the success that can come with higher labor standards they can set an example for other businesses). This doesn't mean that Lego can do no wrong. If I read an article tomorrow about labor abuses in Lego's Chinese facilities, I would be outraged. But so far I've seen no such thing. Most claims that Lego should leave China rest on quality defects, which tends to strike me as impatient (since Lego has already resolved plenty of quality issues as they became apparent), petty (since most of the defects that are brought up are incredibly minor in the grand scheme of things), and selfish (since it ignores the aforementioned positive effects Lego's presence in China can bring merely to satisfy comparatively privileged fans in the Western world).

[Sebeus I]

Another one...

Lepin using my images by Sebeus I, on Flickr

[Trekkie99]

Aye yai yai! What a bunch of you-know-whats!

 

Edited August 7, 2017 by LegoMonorailFan

[allanp]

Absolutely appalling 

[JDL1967]

The knock-off brands have also whan thing that i did not see talkt about here. Offcorse the workers is China are cheap, but the way the plastic pallets are produced, are very differend then the pallets lego uses for there products. Thats why i know for a fact that lego bricks are safe. About the knock-off brands i am not so sure of that. And maybe parents have to think more then twice to buy this stuff. Kids ( i think we all thit it on a young age ) put bricks in there mouth to get them apart or just for the fun of it. I am sure that in those knock-off products there are some toxic products witch you never will find in the save lego bricks. The price of lego contains not only research and development, but also the price of the plastic pallets they use. Ik work in the heavy industry where those pallets are made ( as a sandblaster not in plastic production ), so i know and see daily what it takes to make them. It takes a whole lot of chemical steps to get all if the toxic products out before the pallets can be used for toys or other daily products. And i think we all heard of toys and products produce in country's like China with toxic products in them. And that these product would then be take of the shelfs. And there will be someone in the future who will test those products. And then there is the economic issue. If lets say Europe begins with an import stop on those products because it will harm there economy the rest will follow. It is not only lego who loses money, but a lot of companies who supply raw materials or services to TLG. We can only could guess what the outcome will be. But if it goes the same way with the phone, clothing, sportsshoes ect. then it is going to be a world wide ban for those knock-off brands. It took a few years for that to happen. But it happend at the end. A global total import stop, will to stop it. And at the end we as buyers, can keep the market going of these KO brands but we sure can bring them to there knees just by DONT buy it..

And i forget to add the most importend thing. What all those KO brands never ever can buy, make, steel or produce is the connection we all have with lego witch has started in our childhood. That feeling that we had as boy or girl when we where with our parents in the toyshop and where dreaming what we could build with that lego car or house we had seen. That feeling from our chilhood that we had ( and i think most of us still have ) with seeing or getting lego, will never in any way can be replaced by some kind of KO brand.....

Edited August 9, 2017 by JDL1967

[Digger of Bricks]

A favorite builder of mine, JonHall18, had a creation of his also ripped off by Lepin. Despite the creation being of a Dieselpunk fighter plane, Lepin headlined the box with "Space Fighter".  

[AFOLguy1970]

I imagine Lepin is going to be paying close attention to the anticipated release of the new UCS Millennium Falcon.  I wonder how much they will try to undersell it for?  

It seems like last year, there was a lawsuit against them from Lego.  Any news on how that is progressing?

[Legohead458]

Ever since they began outsourcing to china knockoffs started appearing everwhere.
Also look at the quality difference from one of the first Lego Spider-Man figures (used) from 2002 and the one from 2017

[Lyichir]

10 hours ago, Legohead458 said:

Ever since they began outsourcing to china knockoffs started appearing everwhere.
Also look at the quality difference from one of the first Lego Spider-Man figures (used) from 2002 and the one from 2017

I see Chinese production blamed for knockoffs all the time, but I'm skeptical. Yes, knockoffs have become more common in the last 15 years or so. But Chinese production is far from the only change to occur during that time. Other changes that would also be likely to increase the prevalence of knockoffs include Lego's popularity exploding (going from near-bankruptcy to one of the top players in the entire toy industry), the addition of licensed themes (moving from just having a few licenses to acquiring more and more globally popular franchises), more business being done online (allowing knockoff manufacturers to sell products globally without needing to go through traditional retail channels)... the list goes on and on. All these factors and more make bootleg products an easier and more lucrative business to get into than ever before. And while many if not most of these modern knockoffs originate in China (due to a combination of a huge manufacturing industry and IP law that still has yet to catch up with most of the rest of the world), I'm fairly certain that would be the case even if Lego themselves weren't also manufacturing in the region.

[9v system]

any updates to the lawsuit? I hope they win

[StarWars8Spoiler]

LEGO gains ground against LEPIN. Beijing Higher Court ruled in July that the LEGO logo and LEGO itself is a "well-known trademark" in China. This will allow LEGO to more forcefully pursue any copyright infringement in that country. From news released today.

https://brickshow.com/2017/11/lego-receives-well-known-trademark-recognition-and-legal-protection-in-china/

[MAB]

Lego have won ... but against Bela for copying Friends sets / figures.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lego-china-copyright/toymaker-lego-wins-chinese-copyright-case-against-brick-imitators-idUSKBN1E1157?utm_source=applenews

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-07/lego-wins-its-first-copyright-court-case-in-china-against-bela

 

[Robert8]

LEGO won

https://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-wins-lawsuit-against-lepin/

Edited August 31, 2018 by Robert8

[antp]

Not yet, it seems that some step reached related to jurisdiction was misinterpreted as a final verdict by the site cited as source and then relayed by a lot of other sites.