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Comment by georgefrowny | Hacker News Reader

Surely the minifigure patent has expired? The original patent was in 1979 (design patent 253711: https://patents.google.com/patent/USD253711S/en)

Or are they doing a pharma and have repatented a small variation, or the European equivalent is still going?

Or is it actually trademark that is being enforced here?

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The patent expired, but the minifigs is also a EU 3D trademark. This is not possible for the brick which (only) serves a technical function, namely to hold on each other. Trademarks do not expire while in use. Another example for a 3D trademark, also in this US, is the Coca Cola bottle.

[1] https://www.chaillot.com/ip-news/validity-of-3d-trademarks-f...

the minifigure is not patented, but protected by a 3D design mark. design marks don't expire, and attempts to challenge the mark and get it removed so far have not been successful.

LEGO is using design marks to protect all new bricks they create. design marks can just be registered without any review. but they can be challenged, and some of these challenges have been successful.

Interesting, thank you.

These are the designs registered for Lego A/S on the EU eSearch website: https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/owners/154249

I did also see from the daily bulletin, that literally today "Bricklab Holding GmbH" (https://www.northdata.com/BrickLab%20Holding%20GmbH,%20Weinh...) was awarded the registration of a minifigure-like design: https://ibb.co/s96f9sKN

Bulletin for today: https://euipo.europa.eu/copla/bulletin/data/download/ctm/202...

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