Fake, fake, fake,… but I'm loving it
Yes, that's not real Lego. OK, the street plates are, but the houses and cars are not real Lego. But since Lego's patent's are outdated now, companies are allowed to copy the basic bricks. Good or no? I do not know. But I own some car models (the Trabant, the Wartburg and the Volkswagen Schwimmwagen) from Cobi, a Polish producer of brickmodels (see https://cobitoys.de/ ) and also some houses and a model of a Renault 5 Turbo by a Chinese company.
These houses are of course not licensed so it says for example "Corner Coffee" instead of "Starbucks". I know, it is not legal to produce such houses using other companies' brand logos (even if you change the brand name) and I do not want to promote these models or even sell them. But they are sooo nice and I wonder why Lego doesn't team up with McDonald's, Starbucks, Apple etc. to create models like these. I remember that in the 1980s, when I was a child, Lego teamed up with Shell and offered Shell petrol stations, Shell petrol transporters etc. So, please dear Lego managers, please think about it so that I need not buy from copycats! :-)
What do you think? It is immoral to buy or own these models?
Trabant (by Cobi)
Wartburg Tourist (by Cobi)
Wartburg Tourist (by Cobi)
Renault 5 Turbo (by Chinese company)
Trabant Polizei (by Cobi)
Volkswagen Schwimmwagen (by Cobi)
Lego clone brands, or "fake Lego" as you have referred to, I think fall into two categories.
The first, and most problematic are the outright rip offs of other Lego designs. Copying other people's intellectual property and producing it as an inferior quality product - Lepin and LeLe are prime examples here.
Then you have the likes of Megabloks and Kre-o. Whilst being a clone brand in terms of being an interlocking brick system, they have sourced their own ideas and models, have brokered their own licencing agreements and all told, are just presenting consumers with an alternative to Lego.
As for the corporate logos, I agree it would be great to see some familiar brands sneak into our cityscapes (though a quick search on eBay will generally find stickers that can be applied). I too remember fondly the old Shell Petrol sets, though I guess the risk in partnering with these brands, is the need to ensure they hold similar social values. Remember the Exxon Valdez or the BP Gulf of Mexico catastrophe? Nobody would want to be associated with those events.
Having said that, we see Lego partnering with a number of different vehicle manufacturers for models, so you never know what the future holds.
You are absolutely right. Thank you for your nice definitions!
Wow both the cars and the buildings are really cool. I don't find it immoral to own them, I suppose the manufacture of them might be another story . Of course I am a pirate myself so I would fall on that side of the fence. I remember those Lego Shell gas company parts from when I was a kid, I had totally forgotten about those! I kind of want to look online for these sets now but I really shouldn't be spending money on bricks. Cheers
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Oh, wie genial. Hast du die gedruckt oder gekauft?
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Alles gekauft.
Hab’s gefunden. :-)
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