MONTREAL – Montreal-based toymaker Mega Brands Inc. – maker of Mega Bloks, Rose Art, Mega Puzzles, Mega Games and Board Dudes – has filed an action against rival company Lego Juris A/S and Lego Group.
It’s seeking to invalidate Lego Juris A/S and Lego Group’s 1999 functional U.S. trademark in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California.
It’s the latest chapter in an ongoing legal fight between the two companies over their stackable blocks.
Mega Brands will also be seeking “other remedies,” the company said in a statement issued late last week.
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“Lego’s patents expired more than 20 years ago and courts around the world, including the United States, have ruled against its attempts to use trademark law for functional elements,” Mega Brands said.
“Its claims have been dismissed by lower courts in numerous countries, as well as by the Supreme Courts of France, Germany, Canada, Spain, Italy and The Netherlands.”
Mega Brands is seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to make sure its U.S. imports aren’t affected by Lego’s trademark.
The action comes after U.S. Customs and Border Protection advised Mega Brands that it intends to restrict imports of certain of its products that have been sold in the U.S. for more than 20 years, the company said.
The two companies have been locked in legal battles around the world because their colourful blocks look alike and are interchangeable.
Lego, an 80-year-old company headquartered in Denmark, has argued that Mega Bloks are a violation of Lego’s trademark.
The claims have been generally dismissed.
In 2005, Lego failed to convince the Supreme Court of Canada that the “look” of the tiny connecting knobs of Lego’s interlocking building bricks were protected by their trademark.
The court ruled that knobs are functional devices that fall under patent laws, not trademarks, which are symbols that identify products. Those patents expired in 1988.
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