A/S Norske LEGIO - Norway's First LEGO

Brickset.com

Here's an article about a fascinating aspect of LEGO's early history, written by the world's leading authority, Gary Istok:

LEGO bricks were first sold in Denmark as Automatic Binding Bricks in 1949, then switched names to LEGO Mursten in 1953.

The first country besides Denmark that sold LEGO bricks was Norway, starting in 1953. Norway had a toy import ban after the war, which continued until 1961. So, LEGO partnered with a Norwegian plastic maker based in Oslo by the name of Svein Strømberg & Co.

In 1953, they created a subsidiary called A/S Norske LEGO, which had to be renamed A/S Norske LEGIO in 1954, for legal reasons. Apparently "LEGO" as a company name was already trademarked in Norway by someone else.

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Istokg

My Norwegian friend Arild Andersen found this little piece of information about the reason why A/S Norske LEGO had to change their name to A/S Norske LEGIO.  Leopold Goldmann had already used the "LEGO" name in Norway since 1949,  taking the first 2 characters of his first name and first 2 characters of his last name as the business name LE + GO.  This is a 1953-54 Norwegian businesses publication listing, showing "LEGO" as the company name for a Norwegian firm in the metalworks industry...

Istokg

Also... here is a circa 1954 advertising image of the products that Svein Strømberg & Co. (they owned half of A/S Norske LEGIO, TLG owned the other half) produced, including 2 LEGO sets...




And here is the Oslo Norway Svein Strømberg & Co. factory, where Norway LEGO items were produced...