EU court rejects Lego trademark

The Danish toy maker Lego has lost a court battle to protect its iconic plastic bricks. The EU's Court of First Instance upheld a 2004 EU decision to cancel the brick's trademark status.

 The trademark was registered in the EU
in 1999, but rival Canadian toy firm Mega Brands – which makes Mega
Bloks – successfully challenged it. The EU's trademarks agency said
the brick was a functional, technical shape that was not one
company's property.

Lego spokeswoman Charlotte Simonsen
said Lego would appeal against the ruling, taking the case to the
EU's highest court, the European Court of Justice, the AFP news
agency reported.

The judges rejected Lego's claim that
its competitors do not need to copy the brick's shape in order to get
the same technical result. They said "the functional shape
itself must be available to everyone".