Danish toy maker, Lego has won a U.S. copyright infringement suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut against a British competitor, Best-Lock Construction Toys.
According to the judgement, the court found that figurines sold by Best-Lock Construction Toys infringed a number of Lego’s U.S. copyright registrations, which it has owned since 1994.
It will be recalled that, Lego sued Best-Lock in 2011 for producing and selling allegedly infringing minifigurines.
The court reportedly said that Best-Lock had failed to provide evidence to show that Lego’s copyright registrations are invalid or unreliable.
The court added that despite certain elements of the logo minifigures are indeed functional, it does not render the work uncopyrightable thus Best-Lock had access to Lego’s copyrighted work.
The court reportedly said that “a comparison of the works makes clear that Best-Lock has copied protectable, expressive elements that are original to Lego”.
