LEGO in legal battle with BanBao

[JopieK]

Link to news article

It seems to be that LEGO and BanBao are having a legal fight about the minifigs.

As far as I think, it would be better for us and LEGO to lose. That will keep price and quality balanced. I don't know about the quality of BanBao but I have seen brands like sluban and their quality is horrible. It seems kids seem to like the army themes of the clone brands best, so LEGO also might reconsider their current 'violence' strategy.

[brickmack]

Might be better to lose from a price point of view, but based on that article (and 30 seconds of googleing) I don't think it will happen. The LEGO minifig seems to be legally protected from this sort of stuff. Just depends on how similar the BanBao figs are.

[JopieK]

Well, often quite alike except especially the feet:

[Lyichir]

Link to news article

It seems to be that LEGO and BanBao are having a legal fight about the minifigs.

As far as I think, it would be better for us and LEGO to lose. That will keep price and quality balanced. I don't know about the quality of BanBao but I have seen brands like sluban and their quality is horrible. It seems kids seem to like the army themes of the clone brands best, so LEGO also might reconsider their current 'violence' strategy.

I disagree with your sentiment that a loss for LEGO would be in our best interest. For one, I doubt competition from shoddy clone brands would really affect the price point of LEGO. And I see no reason why Lego ought to reconsider their violence policy, it having worked for them for so long. Plus, I can't understand why competition from this clone brand would cause them to reconsider that policy anyway: Many other clone brands have had successful army-based themes for ages, and Lego hasn't changed their stance on modern warfare in sets.

[lightningtiger]

I just checked out some of these BanBao sets.....what a load of crap....I'm sorry but lame is a word I would use.

But I do see issue Lego has with them about the minifigs (they also have a Friend's style minidoll for girls too !)!

And hows this for a claim.......

Together with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) you will fight crime. This Police van is equipped with all the means to tackle the high crime rate. Powerful weapons, built-in radio and loud sirens. Against this LAPD police van, no criminal stands a chance. A woman in dire distress uses a public telephone to call the police, she needs your help! Call your men and get in the BanBao LAPD Police Van! Buy your favourite police toys and start building.

This is from BanBao World website.....funny the police car shown has 912 not 911 on it, Chinese characters on the sides of the car and not one word on the box art about the LAPD.....does anyone know about this ?

Goodness the quailty of the designs is worse than MB or any other clone brand !

Always buy the original one and only......LEGO !

[AndyC]

I'm not sure it would be good for LEGO to lose. If they did, it would inevitably lead to more clone brands producing minifig lookalikes, but at a lower price/quality point. While that might offer you a cheaper way of picking up the odd one here and there, ultimately TLG would almost certainly have to respond by lowering the cost and as such the quality of their products. Cheap isn't always a good thing.

[JopieK]

I of course agree to most of that. I also didn't say that LEGO will become cheaper because of those clones. But... LEGO still needs to do a good job to keep price/quality sharp enough to make sure parents will choose LEGO in favor of clones.

In Holland LEGO has had a monopoly for a very long time until recently. B.t.w. the feet of the figures are also very LEGO like. I looked them up (unlike e.g. Sluban).

[horizon]

Lego and non violence????

Pirates vs Soldiers

Ninja's vs Skeletons

Space Police vs Aliens

etc

What is to reconsider?

[legolooney]

I would like LEGO to win this.

If they lose other clone brands will get cocky and have a try at LEGO.

I can appreciate that parents want a cheap alternative to LEGO, so the clone brands need to exist. But this is too far.

[Navy Trooper Fenson]

funny the police car shown has 912 not 911 on it,

Well, 912 is the real emergency number.

I think it is fair. LEGO takes more and more designs from other brands like Character Buildings figs for the Friends line. Treat others like you want others to treat you. LEGO already took the cheap quality path. Nearly every new part is made from china plastic with off colors, more and more figures are made from the same stuff with looser arms and legs. It can´t get that much worse.

Besides, when the figures are similiar enough to LEGOs design this could mean a nice and cheap way to get military figures, with all those army sets from every other brand out there. Quality isn´t always down at the bottom. Stuff like Best Lock comes from the depths of hell with their milky colors and loose studs, but Character Building seems indistinguishable from current LEGO except for the slight color difference and some more noticeable ejection marks.

[meyerc13]

I avoid clone brands like the plague, but one thing I have to give BanBao credit for is having a more robust line of City sets than LEGO has been putting out. I mean, they have a farmhouse for their farm! So clearly they have some designers who can do more than simply copy LEGO designs. I would guess the limited sets from LEGO is because LEGO has so many themes (especially with all of the licensed themes) that themes like City can't get the shelf space they deserve. It looks like next year it might get better with the new City vehicles that aren't tied to a subtheme, but I still think LEGO could do more to get back to the sets of the early days of the minifig.

[fyrmedhatt]

Those of you who think lego will suddenly start producing all sorts of military themed sets need to start taking into consideration what Scandinavian culture is like. There is sensitivity towards modern conflicts and its victims, Lego will not make tanks and modern soldiers as they do not want to further traumatize kids that have been through such conflict, and they do not want kids thinking of war as a game. American attitudes towards violence and military games have served America well, I remember how many kids in my high school who enlisted simply because they thought it would be cool to be a sniper or infantryman, it's how this country replenishes its troops.

Scandinavian countries also have military forces, but they do not glorify them to desensitize kids at a young age. That's why Lego will produce various themes including weapons where the central component is that kids cannot relate to the violence as much, aka Lego is fine with kids playing out medieval or futuristic "battle", but not the Afghanistan war. Just because the Chinese clone brands make something doesn't mean lego will, last time i checked lego is incredibly successful by following their company philosophy, and the Clone Brands are trying every cheap trick in the book to rob them of market share.

I really hop Lego wins this battle, if they lose every clone brand will produce minifig clones, and I predict we will see near identical but inferior quality minifigs produced, that in the worst case scenario will make it harder to buy authentic Lego minifigures second hand.

Pricewise, why would current prices change, lego has far superior quality despite what some of the negative members here are writing. The market recognizes this, and people are buying Lego because they know they will get a good product, it seems that when people have less money to spend they make sure the money they do spend is spent well. That is not, and probably won't be in the foreseeable future the case with various Chinese clone brands.

[JopieK]

I avoid clone brands like the plague, but one thing I have to give BanBao credit for is having a more robust line of City sets than LEGO has been putting out. I mean, they have a farmhouse for their farm! So clearly they have some designers who can do more than simply copy LEGO designs. I would guess the limited sets from LEGO is because LEGO has so many themes (especially with all of the licensed themes) that themes like City can't get the shelf space they deserve. It looks like next year it might get better with the new City vehicles that aren't tied to a subtheme, but I still think LEGO could do more to get back to the sets of the early days of the minifig.

Well they could also do more with exclusive items like with the newest cargo train. So sell them online. I'm also allergic to other brands, especially since I've seen the bad quality although I like initiatives like brickforge.

But in the computer industry you see the same thing, it is a good thing AMD is there for Intel to make sure they sat ahead (for a certain period most engineers agree that AMD was indeed some steps ahead of Intel (Celeron / Athlon era). Although at this moment it is a bit quit at the CPU market. Same thing with tablets, I like the iPad but also think that some good competition is very effective, otherwise Apple would just sit back and relax without coming up with even more fancy (I mean user-friendly) stuff.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

I really hope Lego wins this battle.

First of all, I think that we can all agree that the minifigure is an original creation from Lego. They do have the exclusive rights to sell it as such. Would you like somebody copying your designs and then selling them?

And if clone brands ever forced Lego to lower its prices, this could also mean lower quality. Of course, I think that quality is one of the reasons why Lego has such a strong position on the market. However, if the company was forced to drop its prices, I think that it would also be forced to drop its quality controls, for the dismay of us all.

[CP5670]

Interesting article, but it's a little funny that people are saying it would be good or bad for TLG to win. I don't care about the outcome of some company's legal fights one way or another.

And if clone brands ever forced Lego to lower its prices, this could also mean lower quality. Of course, I think that quality is one of the reasons why Lego has such a strong position on the market. However, if the company was forced to drop its prices, I think that it would also be forced to drop its quality controls, for the dismay of us all.

This already happened several years ago, and it has less to do with clone brands than the fact that most consumers simply can't tell any difference in quality.

[Eilif]

Well, often quite alike except especially the feet:

The feet/legs in this picture appear to be exact copies of LEGO. That may be where the trouble comes from. Most companies modify the legs of their minifigs (see Sluban/Oxford for examples) to keep them distinct. A company that is selling minifigs like the above in mainstream markets should know better.

I hope LEGO wins this one, not because of prices or quality or whatever, but because they clearly have a legal right to win it. Copyright, trademark, and patent (I think this is probably a patent issue) protections are often abused and the system has flaws, but they are still absolutely necessary for economic stability and incetivizing product development.

[President of Brick Town]

I have recently seen a BamBao fire plane pricing at 10 USD. It looked like the Lego City fire plane next year. Finally TLG is starting to copy some copycats ideas

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

I have recently seen a BamBao fire plane pricing at 10 USD. It looked like the Lego City fire plane next year. Finally TLG is starting to copy some copycats ideas

What, really? I expected more from Lego (not because of ethics, but because of copying inferior designs).

[CMP]

A fire hydroplane isn't such a single-minded idea, guys.

[President of Brick Town]

Hydroplane? I didn't really recalled the fire plane next year was a hydroplane like thing but it does seemed logical. Lego has released a police seaplane (7723) in 2008 so it's possible for a fire version to be released. IMO I think Lego's version of the Fire plane really looks like BanBao's. I don't know about you guys, but if I get pics I will show it in a comparison to TLG's version.

[Brickity]

BanBao is horrible, there's no sense in the case. Plus, LEGO has been around for like 53 years already, while that cheap asian toy.. obviously much less.

[Piranha]

I disagree with your sentiment that a loss for LEGO would be in our best interest. For one, I doubt competition from shoddy clone brands would really affect the price point of LEGO. And I see no reason why Lego ought to reconsider their violence policy, it having worked for them for so long. Plus, I can't understand why competition from this clone brand would cause them to reconsider that policy anyway: Many other clone brands have had successful army-based themes for ages, and Lego hasn't changed their stance on modern warfare in sets.

Agreed, +1

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

Today I was at a Chinese store, and they had a couple rip-off brands. One of them makes rip-offs of SETS, and of course, they have also copied the minifigure. The brand is not BanBao, so hopefully if Lego wins this, they will also be able to stop the other company from making rip-off minifigures (and hopefully any other company that does the same).

[President of Brick Town]

Today I was at a Chinese store, and they had a couple rip-off brands. One of them makes rip-offs of SETS, and of course, they have also copied the minifigure. The brand is not BanBao, so hopefully if Lego wins this, they will also be able to stop the other company from making rip-off minifigures (and hopefully any other company that does the same).

But as sated previously the price of Lego will rise.

[lorax]

For a purely selfish reason I want Lego to win.

Because at the moment, when looking on ebay at bulk lots, if I identify non Lego figures, I can assume there will also be non lego elements (and make my decision accordingly). If clone brand minifigs look too much like Lego minifigs, this will become increasingly difficult (and I will probably end up making more accidental clone brand purchases).

But, my son would probably like comparable clones with more weapons (but that is what brickforge/brickarms etc are for).