LEGO fight Against Chinese counterfeit LEGO

FowlerBricks

CaptainPirateMan said:

Am I the only one that finds all these Batman variations ridiculous? The Lego Batman movie CMF did nothing for me.

Yes, I do find them ridiculous, but that's why I love them!!

CCC

Over five years ago I was wanting some Chinese Terracotta Warriors in the CMF line:
http://bricksetforum.com/discussion/comment/78812#Comment_78812

Now the Chinese makers are doing them ...

stet

$216 shipped for the new Falcon, 1/4 of the price when you factor in taxes.

CaptainPirateMan

All kidding aside, that Lepin MF must be a real CHORE putting together without numbered bags. How many pieces are in that set, like 7500? That's a LOT of pieces to sort through. Another reason to NOT buy Lepin imo. 

gantarat

It's almost years now. still no news update Lego vs Lepin ? 

Recce

gantarat said:

It's almost years now. still no news update Lego vs Lepin ? 

I have a feeling nothing much will come out of the court case, at least nothing that can be financially beneficial to TLG.

It's possible TLG initiated the case just to please the AFOL community. 

nhyone

TLG doesn't have to win the court case to "win". They just have to cut off easy access to the clone bricks.

Already on TaoBao, but not AliExpress, strangely, foreign buyers are blocked from accessing Lepin and Decool sets.

And shutting down pro-Lepin websites, of course.

kizkiz

I was under the impression that taobao was only for Chinese anyway. I thought they only shipped to China

CCC

Recce said:

It's possible TLG initiated the case just to please the AFOL community. 

Did it please the community? I'm not that bothered if they take action knowing they won't win (as in just doing it to please the community rather than for a real outcome) or not doing anything.

gantarat

Well,People will use taobao,aliexpress shipping agent anyway.

CaptainLego

I was searching eBay for a die-cast model of the Bugatti Chiron, when I found this:


And this: 


And this:


I can't figure out why anyone would buy bootlegs of Lego sets that cost $15-$20. Maybe they are hoping to prey on parents who might not notice something is off? 

Funny enough, the official LEGO Bugatti Chiron is sitting right next to me at the time of this post.

Hanzo

gantarat said:

It's almost years now. still no news update Lego vs Lepin ? 

I mean, literally everything of value is counterfeited, Lego is facing the almost impossible task in stopping it, same as all the other companies.  I wouldn't expect anything to change in the near future.

Bosstone100

Well. If they did original Scooby Doo sets, I'd buy them. Simpsons too.

gantarat

CaptainPirateMan said:

All kidding aside, that Lepin MF must be a real CHORE putting together without numbered bags. How many pieces are in that set, like 7500? That's a LOT of pieces to sort through. Another reason to NOT buy Lepin imo. 

Lepin 2017 set (that have golden logo) come with numbered bags and not have missing piece.

gantarat

Lepin go Dubai now.

http://www.brickfanatics.co.uk/lepins-knock-off-lego-sets-doing-big-business-in-dubai/

Recce

gantarat said:

Lepin go Dubai now.

http://www.brickfanatics.co.uk/lepins-knock-off-lego-sets-doing-big-business-in-dubai/

I thought the UAE countries are very rich, with lots of expensive sports cars on the roads etc, yet they'd still get cheap knock-offs?

I guess human nature never changes, no matter how rich you are, if you can get a similar product at much lower cost you'd still go for it.

SumoLego

There's a little place called Canal Street in NYC that folks go for fake designer items.

nhyone

gantarat said:

Well,People will use taobao,aliexpress shipping agent anyway.

How do you ship if you can't buy? :-)

(Not that you can't buy, but there is at least a barrier.)

I think AliExpress gets a pass for now cos the prices aren't that competitive for current sets. Retired sets are "cheap" when compared to secondary prices, but it doesn't affect TLG (not directly anyway).

nhyone

CaptainLego said:

I can't figure out why anyone would buy bootlegs of Lego sets that cost $15-$20. Maybe they are hoping to prey on parents who might not notice something is off? 

The bootleg sets are really cheap. They are heavily marked up in the West due to many reasons, one of which is the high price of Lego sets.

The sets are only 20-30% of the price of their Lego counterparts in their home market.

gantarat

Catman Catmobile vs Joker Mech 

Charmiefcb

When I first heard about Lepin I honestly laughed. I never thought the Chinese would be able to make exact Lego sets, especially the larger sets. Still get a kick out of seeing Star Plan and Star Wrns on the boxes.
That said I would never buy one.
To me it's stealing Legos designs and someone or a group of peoples hard work.
If anything were to happen to Lepin there would be another company name within 5 minutes and just carrying on as normal.
Good to see customs are seizing Lepin sets at the border in certain countries and ebay are taking down listings.

MattDawson

@gantarat that's actually not that bad. I may have to investigate building it from the real stuff. :P

Bumblepants

I like how they even include a clone orange brick separator now.

SumoLego

Bumblepants said:

I like how they even include a clone orange brick separator now.

That's a $75.00 piece!

FowlerBricks

gantarat said:

Catman Catmobile vs Joker Mech 

Why are the villains fighting? And why so many Batmans?

samiam391

FowlerBricks said:

gantarat said:

Catman Catmobile vs Joker Mech 

And why so many Batmans?

You could ask LEGO the same question.

daewoo

So, having read 57 pages I'm left with one question - if I build a Megabloks set using Lego parts, am I violating Megabloks' whatever-they-call-it-legally-type-thingies?

Hanzo

daewoo said:

So, having read 57 pages I'm left with one question - if I build a Megabloks set using Lego parts, am I violating Megabloks' whatever-they-call-it-legally-type-thingies?

No, but if you start boxing the sets up, slapping MegoBlox on the box and selling them there'd be a problem.

Lyichir

There's also the question of how effectively you even COULD do that with Mega Bloks, considering how so many of their modern sets revolve around fairly specialized molds that are entirely distinct from parts Lego produces...

Legopassion8

Ya think the Chinese are reading DC: Rebirth? I'm really pumped for the Doomsday Clock event after checking out the Button storyline from earlier this year. 

...and I guess a Dr. Manhattan minifigure doesn't necessarily need a giant penis to be cool.



HEY Lepin W-A-T-C-H-M-E-N

You guys call it Clockbros... whatever works.

Legopassion8

Oh.. Nevermind.

My apologies. Proceed!

SumoLego

Legopassion8 said:

You guys call it Clockbros... whatever works.

More like: 'Hatpin Wnrrnz'.

Zacharywathen97

datsunrobbie said:

Are you saying that if a competitor was to make a really useful new part, perhaps a 2x2 plate with studs on both sides, that LEGO should not produce that part?

Hi, I'd like to start by saying by saying that MEGABlox had a version of this piece for a long while now. I know this because I got a bucket of sets from the late 90s and early 2000s, and it was in there.

CCC

Damn. I was waiting for POGO to do their knock-offs of the Batman TRU figures and they go and make the Roman based on a white figure.

I was hoping for a decent skirt piece on fleshie legs and they go and choose white instead.

daewoo

Lyichir said:

There's also the question of how effectively you even COULD do that with Mega Bloks, considering how so many of their modern sets revolve around fairly specialized molds that are entirely distinct from parts Lego produces...

And therein lies the challenge.  I like some of their sets, but I've only ever bought two - the M1A1 Abrams (9734) and the NYC Fire Engine (9735).  I want to recreate them using Lego.  Need to finish my fire station MOC first though.

Aanchir

CCC said:

Damn. I was waiting for POGO to do their knock-offs of the Batman TRU figures and they go and make the Roman based on a white figure.

I was hoping for a decent skirt piece on fleshie legs and they go and choose white instead.

Probably because they based it not on the TRU figure set but on the concept art of the suit (sans wearer) in the art book.

Venunder

I would expect the Lepin sets are selling to the middle classes of Dubai.

The people who have most of the money will almost certainly be having their servants buying Lego sets for the Children when they visit the Leicester Square Store in London, or have it shipped directly from Lego.

Zacharywathen97

TigerMoth said:

Bosstone100 said:

If they cared so much about the Chinese knockoffs, they'd pull their factories out of China.

As has been shown time and time again, the presence of factories in China has no bearing on whether there are copies of any sort being made.

The factories in China are there for a simple reason - the Chinese avoid products that aren't made locally. That's something that happens in many countries across the word.

My comment as this thing isn't separating it properly:
I believe the real reason that companies ship their factories to China is primarily for two reasons. First, there are almost no minimum wage laws or safety laws in China, which means cheaper labor. Second, free trade agreements mean companies can get their products shipped back from China for next to nothing. Unfortunately, LEGO is capitalizing on this, and this means that there are going to be less people who work for LEGO. We've seen LEGO lay off a lot of employees back in 2004 and change the locations of their factories to places who have cheaper labor and fewer safety laws, i.e. Mexico.

Bobflip

Zacharywathen97 said:

TigerMoth said:

Bosstone100 said:

If they cared so much about the Chinese knockoffs, they'd pull their factories out of China.

As has been shown time and time again, the presence of factories in China has no bearing on whether there are copies of any sort being made.

The factories in China are there for a simple reason - the Chinese avoid products that aren't made locally. That's something that happens in many countries across the word.

My comment as this thing isn't separating it properly:
I believe the real reason that companies ship their factories to China is primarily for two reasons. First, there are almost no minimum wage laws or safety laws in China, which means cheaper labor. Second, free trade agreements mean companies can get their products shipped back from China for next to nothing. Unfortunately, LEGO is capitalizing on this, and this means that there are going to be less people who work for LEGO. We've seen LEGO lay off a lot of employees back in 2004 and change the locations of their factories to places who have cheaper labor and fewer safety laws, i.e. Mexico.

It's a bug with the forum software, but if you click the </> button on the right you can go into HTML mode which lets you type after a quote. You'll need to either type <br> each time you'd want a new line, or type the first word(s) and then click the button again to go into the default mode.

Glacierfalls265

Not necessarily about LEPIN, but Xingbao. I would not buy any of their products, but I've always liked Oriental LEGO designs. I just wish LEGO would make tiny dragons! :(

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/IN-STOCK-Xingbao-01002-3267Pcs-MOC-Creative-Series-The-Beautiful-Tavern-Set-Educational-Building-Blocks-Bricks/32818604945.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.52.ktszrW&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_2_5570020_10152_10065_10151_10130_10068_10344_10342_10343_10340_10341_5550020_10307_10137_10060_10155_10154_10056_10055_10054_5470020_10059_9914_100031_10099_5460020_10338_10339_10103_10102_440_10052_10053_10142_10107_10050_10051_10324_10325_5380020_10326_10084_513_10083_10080_10082_10081_10178_10110_10111_10112_10113_10114_143_10312_10313_10314_5560020_10078_10079_10073-10102_9914,searchweb201603_30,ppcSwitch_7&btsid=8cfec76c-509a-4969-ae3f-98299d1ec071&algo_expid=287f8f6b-3a0b-4839-bc53-97b11ad21474-6&algo_pvid=287f8f6b-3a0b-4839-bc53-97b11ad21474

(Like the ones on top of the roof) (And wow that's a huge url)....

CCC

Glacierfalls265 said:

Not necessarily about LEPIN, but Xingbao. I would not buy any of their products, but I've always liked Oriental LEGO designs.

Xingbao is one of the companies that do pay the designers - at least in some cases. For example, they partnered with the Arvo Brothers to make their Alien book into a real set.

stlux

Hilarious that on that on the pictures for that Xingbao set, the minifigs are blurred out. "We offer something original! Really! Just ignore those minifigs, as we cannot be bothered to come up with something that looks half-decent ourselves, so we just continue to rip off the Lego ones! But apart from that, we're totally legit! Pinky swear!"

About them paying (some/all?) designers: they still don't pay the right holders, so they're still firmly in the knock-off corner.

CCC

stlux said:

Hilarious that on that on the pictures for that Xingbao set, the minifigs are blurred out. "We offer something original! Really! Just ignore those minifigs, as we cannot be bothered to come up with something that looks half-decent ourselves, so we just continue to rip off the Lego ones! But apart from that, we're totally legit! Pinky swear!"

About them paying (some/all?) designers: they still don't pay the right holders, so they're still firmly in the knock-off corner.

That is true of all customisers too, such as minifigs.me, those on firestartoys, etc. which have often been promoted in the past through news stories on brickset. Similarly the Arvo Bros design / book itself is an IP infringement, as are many SW and LOTR MOC instructions that are sold.

CaptainPirateMan

^^ ya, I don't think Minifigs.me has the IP rights to the Freddy, Jason, Michael Meyers, or Ash that I purchased from them. Nor do they have the rights to the Gozer I just asked them to do. Although the Gozer IS based on the minifig from the Dimensions game. I'm not complaining, lol. But as Lego fans, sometimes we need to look the other way imo, if we want truly unique minifigs or MOC'S. Having said that, Lepin is still just thieves. 

cheshirecat

I'm guessing your tongue is firmly in your check with those last two sentences.

CCC

CaptainPirateMan said:

But as Lego fans, sometimes we need to look the other way imo, if we want truly unique minifigs or MOC'S. Having said that, Lepin is still just thieves. 

  In other words, it is OK for some people to infringe IP for profit but not others.

MaffyD

I have more than enough stuff on my wishlists already. I do not need to add IP infringing entrepreneurs to that list any time soon. That being said, I've got #ISBN3958434959 LEGO Tips for Kids: Transformers on my list... maybe I should check what the licensing is on that book (I'm not holding my breath on that one).

CaptainPirateMan

IP infringing is a tough one for us Lego fans imo. Generally speaking, the majority of us don't mind if it's a custom company, such as minifigs.me, or companies that make parts (monorail) that Lego no longer makes. 

Having said that, most of the Chinese knockoff companies take it to far imo. But not all of them, I personally don't have a problem with Enlighten or Xingboa. They are doing unique sets, original designs. It's companies like Lepin, that just steal and steal. They are the REAL problem.

CCC

CaptainPirateMan said:

IP infringing is a tough one for us Lego fans imo. Generally speaking, the majority of us don't mind if it's a custom company, such as minifigs.me, or companies that make parts (monorail) that Lego no longer makes. 

It has been a recurring theme on this thread: it is OK to rip-off IP if you are "doing it for the community" or "are a real LEGO fan". Yet everyone does it for profit. It is just the scale that varies.

MaffyD

^ Agreed. I want official stuff, so I've taken the book off my wishlist - it got rubbish reviews on Amazon anyway.