The Court thus sanctioned the imitation of the logo (which reproduced the graphic codes of the original trademark) but also the imitation of the ranges<\/a>. LEPIN cannot use LEGO visuals to market its products. On the other hand, the decision does not concern the content of the boxes. Consumers who purchase LEPIN products continue to receive their building kits, but without instructions or packaging.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
LEGO v. LEPIN: The battle continues outside China<\/h2>\n
In June 2017, Longjun Toys will register the LEPIN brand in the United Kingdom. The trademark is registered in semi-figurative form, in black and white, surmounted by two Chinese characters. The LEGO Group opposed the registration, claiming in particular that it infringed its earlier European trademark. LEGO also provided significant evidence, some of which came from the customer service department, highlighting the confusion that existed among certain consumers.<\/p>\n
Longjun Toys challenged LEGO's arguments. In particular, the company made a comparison of the two terms. It argued that LEPIN was a transliteration of the two Chinese characters that appear above it in the mark: THE \"happy; cheerful\" and PIN \"spell; piece\". Whereas the word \"lego\" comes from the abbreviation of a Danish expression \"leg godt\" which means \"to play well\".<\/p>\n
Finally, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) ruled in favour of LEGO. The decision was based in particular on the fact that the two marks concerned identical goods and that there were strong structural similarities between the marks in question. The reputation of the mark LEGO and its strong distinctive character also played a role in the UKIPO decision.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
Despite its two successful battles, LEGO has not yet stopped fighting against Longjun Toys. Indeed, at the end of April 2019, the Chinese authorities seized nearly 630,000 bricks from the LEPIN factory in Shenzhen, worth around 30 million dollars. This spectacular seizure is part of a global policy that China is pursuing against counterfeiting in order to maintain cordial trade relations with the United States and Europe.<\/p>\n
Will this seizure mark the end of the LEPIN adventure? Time will tell. In the meantime, LEGO has already started to open official stores in China.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Affaire LEPIN\u00a0ou comment LEGO d\u00e9fend ses marques \u00a0 Le Groupe LEGO a \u00e9t\u00e9 fond\u00e9 en 1932 et la brique iconique a r\u00e9cemment f\u00eat\u00e9 ses 50 ans (en effet, la premi\u00e8re brique LEGO a \u00e9t\u00e9 commercialis\u00e9e en 1958). Pourtant elle n\u2019a pas pris une ride. Elle a m\u00eame \u00e9t\u00e9 consacr\u00e9e la marque de jouets la plus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4666,"featured_media":3368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":"
___TVE_SHORTCODE_RAW__<h1>Affaire LEPIN ou comment LEGO d\u00e9fend ses marques<\/h1><p> <\/p><p>Le Groupe LEGO a \u00e9t\u00e9 fond\u00e9 en 1932 et la brique iconique a r\u00e9cemment f\u00eat\u00e9 ses 50 ans (en effet, la premi\u00e8re brique LEGO a \u00e9t\u00e9 commercialis\u00e9e en 1958). Pourtant elle n\u2019a pas pris une ride. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lefigaro.fr\/societes\/2017\/03\/11\/20005-20170311ARTFIG00022-lego-est-la-marque-de-jouets-la-plus-chere-au-monde.php\">Elle a m\u00eame \u00e9t\u00e9 consacr\u00e9e la marque de jouets la plus ch\u00e8re au monde en 2017<\/a>. En termes de ventes, le groupe LEGO est le troisi\u00e8me plus grand fabricant mondial de jouets.<\/p><p>Mais ce succ\u00e8s n\u2019est pas sans contrepartie. LEGO lutte en permanence contre des imitations plus ou moins r\u00e9ussies. Ces derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es, LEGO a d\u00e9ploy\u00e9 ses forces \u00e0 l\u2019encontre des contrefa\u00e7ons chinoises, et s\u2019est particuli\u00e8rement attaqu\u00e9 \u00e0 la marque \u00ab LEPIN \u00bb, d\u00e9tenue par le groupe Longjun Toys.<\/p><p> <\/p><h2>LEPIN : une contrefa\u00e7on assum\u00e9e des produits LEGO<\/h2><p>La marque LEPIN est bien connue des fans des briques de construction. En effet, elle commercialise des produits quasiment identiques aux originaux, dans des packagings tr\u00e8s proches :<\/p>[caption id=\"attachment_3367\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"425\"]<a href=\"http:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/LEGO-LEPIN.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3367\" src=\"http:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/LEGO-LEPIN.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"425\" height=\"378\" \/><\/a> Source: http:\/\/bricksfanz.com\/lego-group-gain-uk-trademark-victory\/[\/caption]<p>En 2016, le Groupe LEGO d\u00e9cide d\u2019agir \u00e0 la source, en attaquant l\u2019entreprise Longjun Toys et la marque LEPIN devant les tribunaux chinois. Les juges ont reconnu que LEPIN entretenait la confusion avec la marque LEGO. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hothbricks.com\/lego-vs-lepin-la-justice-chinoise-a-tranche\/\">La Cour a ainsi sanctionn\u00e9 l\u2019imitation du logo (qui reprenait les codes graphiques de la marque originale) mais aussi l\u2019imitation des gammes<\/a>. LEPIN ne peut utiliser les visuels LEGO pour commercialiser ses produits. En revanche, la d\u00e9cision ne porte pas sur le contenu des boites. Les consommateurs qui ach\u00e8tent des produits LEPIN continuent de recevoir leurs kits de construction, mais sans notice ou emballage.<\/p><p> <\/p><h2>LEGO v. LEPIN : La bataille continue hors de Chine<\/h2><p>En juin 2017, la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Longjun Toys d\u00e9pose la marque LEPIN au Royaume-Uni. La marque est d\u00e9pos\u00e9e sous forme semi-figurative, en noir et blanc, surmont\u00e9e de deux caract\u00e8res chinois. Le Groupe LEGO s\u2019est oppos\u00e9 au d\u00e9p\u00f4t, en invoquant notamment une contrefa\u00e7on de sa marque europ\u00e9enne ant\u00e9rieure. LEGO a \u00e9galement fourni des preuves importantes, dont certaines provenaient du service client\u00e8le, soulignant la confusion qui r\u00e9gnait chez certains consommateurs.<\/p><p>Longjun Toys a contest\u00e9 les arguments de LEGO. La soci\u00e9t\u00e9 a notamment proc\u00e9d\u00e9 \u00e0 une comparaison des deux termes. Elle a fait valoir que LEPIN \u00e9tait la translitt\u00e9ration des deux caract\u00e8res chinois qui apparaissent au-dessus dans la marque : LE \u00ab heureux ; gai \u00bb et PIN \u00ab \u00e9peler ; morceau \u00bb. Alors que le mot \u00ab lego \u00bb vient de l\u2019abr\u00e9viation d\u2019une expression danoise \u00ab leg godt \u00bb qui signifie \u00ab bien jouer \u00bb.<\/p><p>Finalement, l\u2019Office anglais de la propri\u00e9t\u00e9 intellectuelle (UKIPO) a tranch\u00e9 en faveur de LEGO. La d\u00e9cision s\u2019appuyait notamment sur le fait que les deux marques concernaient des produits identiques et qu\u2019il existait de fortes similitudes structurelles entre les marques en cause. La renomm\u00e9e de la marque LEGO et son caract\u00e8re distinctif fort ont \u00e9galement jou\u00e9 un r\u00f4le dans la d\u00e9cision de l\u2019UKIPO.<\/p><p> <\/p><h2>Conclusion<\/h2><p>Malgr\u00e9 ses deux batailles r\u00e9ussies, LEGO n\u2019a pas encore cess\u00e9 la lutte contre la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Longjun Toys. En effet, fin avril 2019, les autorit\u00e9s chinoises ont saisi \u00e0 Shenzhen pr\u00e8s de 630.000 briques dans l\u2019usine LEPIN, dont la valeur repr\u00e9sente environ 30 millions de dollars. Cette saisie spectaculaire s\u2019inscrit dans une politique globale que m\u00e8ne la Chine contre les contrefa\u00e7ons, pour conserver des relations commerciales cordiales avec les Etats-Unis et l\u2019Europe.<\/p><p>Cette saisie va-t-elle marquer la fin de l\u2019aventure LEPIN ? L\u2019avenir nous le dira. En attendant, LEGO a d\u00e9j\u00e0 commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 ouvrir des boutiques officielles en Chine.<\/p>__TVE_SHORTCODE_RAW___<\/div><\/div>","tve_custom_css":"@media (min-width: 300px){.tcb-post-list[data-css=\"tve-u-16ecb5f152b\"] .post-wrapper.thrv_wrapper { width: calc(50% - 10px); }.tcb-post-list[data-css=\"tve-u-16ecb5f152b\"] .post-wrapper.thrv_wrapper:nth-child(n+3) { margin-top: 20px !important; }.tcb-post-list[data-css=\"tve-u-16ecb5f152b\"] .post-wrapper.thrv_wrapper:not(:nth-child(n+3)) { margin-top: 0px !important; }.tcb-post-list[data-css=\"tve-u-16ecb5f152b\"] .post-wrapper.thrv_wrapper:not(:nth-child(2n)) { margin-right: 20px !important; }.tcb-post-list[data-css=\"tve-u-16ecb5f152b\"] .post-wrapper.thrv_wrapper:nth-child(2n) { margin-right: 0px !important; }}","tve_user_custom_css":"","tve_globals":{"e":"1","font_cls":[]},"tcb2_ready":1,"tcb_editor_enabled":1,"tve_landing_page":"","_tve_header":"","_tve_footer":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[53,94,48,242,243,244,50],"class_list":["post-3366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contrefacon","tag-chine","tag-conflit","tag-contrefacon","tag-lego","tag-lepin","tag-marque","tag-marque-notoire","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4666"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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