EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Products => Crowd Funded Projects => Topic started by: FrankT on March 23, 2017, 01:28:17 am
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This one caught my eye...
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nimuno-loops-the-toy-block-tape#/ (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nimuno-loops-the-toy-block-tape#/)
Not because I'm into lego, but the 17476% (current) funding.
It was a bit more than they were expecting. I hope they can deliver.
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The pricing seems adequate and they didn't include shipping in the pledge price, so they are probably good on the money side. The concept seems easy enough for production. For prototyping it's probably just silicone molds, then appling commercial double-sided tape. For large production, there are specialty tape manufacturers out there that can probably handle it. Or they can ramp up a minimal-level production facility themselves, which is more risky but certainly doable.
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I hope for them they checked it with their legal team, as Lego is not much 'toying' with other companies offering blocks that use construction blocks compatible with (or 'clone of') theirs. IANAL, of course :blah:
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I hope for them they checked it with their legal team, as Lego is not much 'toying' with other companies offering blocks that use construction blocks compatible with (or 'clone of') theirs. IANAL, of course :blah:
Looks like they have it covered. Lego can protect their trademark name, but I think last time they went to court it was ruled that Lego-compatible blocks themselves could not be patented or trademarked, so they can't prevent "compatible" designs. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/09/15/eu.lego.trademark/ (http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/09/15/eu.lego.trademark/)
However, Lego did get trademark protection for their Lego figures, a somewhat dubious decision IMHO but there it is. http://time.com/3922661/lego-figures-trademarked/ (http://time.com/3922661/lego-figures-trademarked/)
Interestingly, Lego did not invent the original brick idea, they ripped it off from someone else. http://ipkitten.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/lego-great-british-invention.html (http://ipkitten.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/lego-great-british-invention.html)