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LEGO fight Against Chinese counterfeit LEGO
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Comments
Bathero the Bath Hero.
Legobots?
(Or Butt Sabers, as the case may be.)
Wait, what are we talking about?
Nevermind, let's all move along from this strange depiction of wheelie-handed faux figures with posterior projectiles.
They will rename it once they get some feedback. :-) Just like Star Wnrs. :-D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nksDqIhl74
Is it technically accurate to classify Lepin as counterfeit Lego?
A Google search indicates that the primary definition of counterfeit is: "made in exact imitation of something valuable or important with the intention to deceive or defraud"
Based on the above, it is probably not accurate to classify Lepin as counterfeit (as the thread title states or implies). There are many bricks (Mega Bloks, etc) that are made in the exact imitation of Lego, insofar as the interlocking brick design. It's commonly accepted that Mega Bloks are not counterfeit Lego. The only questionable aspect, therefore, it whether or not Lepin is intending on deceiving or defrauding people. I don't think they are. I think they are up front that their product is Lepin, but they do appear to infringe on Lego's designs and box art.
So while I understand that Lepin is viewed as undesirable by many here, I think don't think it's appropriate to falsely accuse the company of producing counterfeit product (based on the commonly accepted definition of counterfeit). It might be more accurate to state that they are infringing on Lego's designs, but that is clearly separate from counterfeiting.
Lastly, I'm not trying to be an apologist for Lepin. But I do think it's relevant to accurately classify what Lepin is doing, and it's probably not counterfeiting.
Mega bloks makes their own models, even has unique parts they have made. Not similar to lepin at all.
Even actual AFOLs have occasionally succumbed to the belief that Lepin is secretly owned and manufactured by LEGO in some sort of off-the-books arrangement to control the East Asian building toys market. It's hard, then, to argue that somebody who knows little about LEGO should know with certainty that LEGO and Lepin, with their near-identical branding, are separate, competing companies.
I'm the only one in my house that sees a difference between brands of building blocks. I am acutely aware of the problems that mixing brands can cause, mainly because of subtle differences in the 2x4 Duplo, Mega, and K'Nex bricks. They are all pretty close, but off by enough to cause frustration for my grandson when he was building with them, so they are kept separated. They all get played with, because those other brands make some stuff that Lego does not make, and my grandson likes Minions, Sesame Street, and Thomas and Friends.
Not being a total heretic, I do try to remove all the non-Lego parts from my second-hand purchases and keep them separate, but I throw all the "other" into a bin until positively identified. I've had to go digging back through that bin on multiple occasions, after discovering that a piece like #48203 actually IS a Lego piece, despite my earlier attempt and failure at identifying it.
I don't believe I stated or implied that Lepin did not rip off Lego or MOC designs. Clearly, Lepin model designs are identical or extremely similar to genuine Lego. But they still aren't counterfeit, since they don't claim or pretend to be genuine Lego.
I can see the argument that others make regarding the similar box design (Lepin boxes looks like Lego boxes). To me, however, that's sort of a buyer beware issue similar to U.S. Polo Association clothing looking very similar to Ralph Lauren Polo clothing.
I was also wondering, for any legal experts: are Lego-designed models copyrighted or otherwise legally protected? Even in China? The more I think about it (especially after reading about U.S. Polo Association vs Ralph Lauren Polo), the more I wonder if any meaningful change will occur even if Lego prevails in court. For instance, maybe all that will change is that Lepin makes a few insignificant changes to their models and/or box art, but will be otherwise permitted to continue business as usual.
Always remember that similar packaging does not mean the contents will be the same, as I learned when I was told to get the "blue box" of Mac and Cheese on grocery trip years ago. I won't make THAT mistake again :)
There are several reasons some people may have thought Lepin was a subsidiary of Lego. Lepin got a lot of attention by creating copies of large Star Wars sets, and did not get immediate public response from the legal teams at Lego and Disney. Disney will sue anybody, over things seemingly as trivial as decorating a birthday cake, but there has been no public announcement that they were defending their IP against the obvious infringement. Lego eventually filed suit, made an announcement, and maybe someday the case will get to court, and the next Lepin will come along to pick up the pieces and restart the cycle.
Another reason for the confusion is that there are competing brands that ARE owned by the same company, like Hot Wheels and Matchbox. When I was a kid, these were entirely separate, but Mattel bought Matchbox in 1997.
Lepin is certainly infringing on Lego IP, and Disney IP as well. That infringement does nothing to increase or decrease the quality of the parts they are producing. The reviews I have read have indicated that the Lepin parts were very comparable in quality to genuine Lego parts. Here's one from Eurobricks, where I certainly did not expect to find a review, much less one that did not beat Lepin into the ground:
http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/137742-comparison-rey’s-speeder-lego-75099-versus-lepin-05001/
I have not found many head-to-head comparisons like that, more often it is just a review of the Lepin set that says the brick quality is good but the morality is questionable.
The problem I have with people claiming that Lepin is of horrible quality is that other people will find out that it is not true, and then they have no reason to believe anything you say about it. I read that Lepin quality was poor compared to Lego. Then I read other reviews that said they were evil/immoral but that the bricks were actually high quality, so I searched again and found more reviews backing the second point of view. Further searching revealed that the posts about quality issues all seemed to come from people who had never been in the same room with a Lepin set.
Last week at the thrift store I was approached by other grandparents seeking Lego. Lucky for me I had already found the sets I wanted, but I showed them the two real Lego sets that I felt were too steeply priced, as well as several knock-off sets. I explained that the knock-offs were, in my experience, off lesser quality than genuine Lego, for the Kre-o and Best-Lock sets. I told them the Mega-Bloks set would likely be better quality than the other knock-offs, as it was a Minions set I had already built. They ended up buying all the knock-offs and passed on buying the Lego (#76067 with no figs for $30, opened #70014 for $50, who were they kidding?). For under $20 they got half a dozen sets that would retail for almost $100, and they were happy to get them, and thanked me for taking the time to explain that they are not all the same. Best of all, they were informed going in that the knock-offs are not Lego and will get the chance to see the differences for themselves without paying retail. If their grandkids reject the off-brand sets, those sets will end up back at the thrift store, or in the trash. Or maybe their grandkids are like mine, and don't care about the brand as long as they can build stuff. I'd wager the sets they bought fit together better than some of the Samsonite Lego that I have in my collection.
;TLDR - Don't claim it's raining just because you don't want to play outside. Somebody will look out the window, and then your credibility is shot.