Lego tells U.S. company to stop making guns look like its toys

This is why trademarks suck. Patents last a limited time and nothing should be able to prevent new products, especially those in completely different industries, from being created by anyone.

This is the Mickey Mouse trademark all over again, just with Legos. Trademarks are indefinite, unfortunately. There needs to be a limit on these things, say 30-50 yrs and extensions should cost exponentially more every decade to be continued. The payments should be that by the time it is 90 yrs later, the trademark extension payment should be the GDP for an entire province or state.

Design your gun to look like a toy. What could go wrong?

This is why trademarks suck. Patents last a limited time and nothing should be able to prevent new products, especially those in completely different industries, from being created by anyone.

Trademarks are not the same as patents and are rightfully protected for an indefinite period of time, for as long as the business exists. Why should Coke or Pepsi lose their trademarked logos after a period of years? There is tremendous brand equity built into their trademarked logos. Likewise a company like Ford or Harley Davidson. Or Toyota too. As long as the business exists so do their trademarks. That is right and proper.

Btw, on top of the trademark matter, Legos has always strove to project a nonviolent image in their toys. You might notice none of their kits make military vehicles, military aircraft or combat ships (though there are some companies that know how to put together available Legos to make these, they are not sanctioned by Legos ). Then along comes a gun manufacturer making a gun to look like a Legos toy. It is a full frontal assault on their trademark and their hard won company image for non-violence.

You might notice none of their kits make military vehicles, military aircraft or combat ships

Some of the highest priced Lego "Kits" are for military hardware.

$2500 for an Imperial Star Destroyer

$1300 for a Rebel Blockade Runner

$1900 for Death Star II

$4500 for Millennium Falcon.

Further, even the small $10-$20 Lego Kits include figures with guns. I have a number, used as stocking stuffers, which show the figures with different tools and some with guns.

Some of the highest priced Lego "Kits" are for military hardware.

$2500 for an Imperial Star Destroyer

$1300 for a Rebel Blockade Runner

$1900 for Death Star II

$4500 for Millennium Falcon.

Ah yes, those famous real-life military hardware, spaceships from Star Wars.

Further, even the small $10-$20 Lego Kits include figures with guns. I have a number, used as stocking stuffers, which show the figures with different tools and some with guns.

This is fair. I think it is bad that LEGO have abandoned their previously hardline anti-violence stance by creating rifles, pistols, etc.

Gun nuttery abounds in the US, a society where in too many households kids are brought up to believe guns are necessary to protect them from the evils that weak adults try to convince them to believe actually exist. As the adults try to convince the kids that guns are needed. The US has long created myths to glorify guns. See most USTV shows and movies, especially those about the mythical west.

The US is a sick society, getting sicker by the day. Where else in the world (at least in the developed world) do so many cowardly people feel the need to carry guns wherever they might go or be. Where else in the world are so many people shot by someone carrying a gun wherever they go.

Again, I am so happy I have been able to live in Japan which has long had sensible gun laws.

Gun nuttery abounds in the US, a society where in too many households kids are brought up to believe guns are necessary to protect them from the evils that weak adults try to convince them to believe actually exist. As the adults try to convince the kids that guns are needed. The US has long created myths to glorify guns. See most USTV shows and movies, especially those about the mythical west.

Some people certainly believe that. If I lived in the south side of Chicago, I'd definitely have a few firearms for "home protection."

Thankfully, I do not live in a dangerous area like that.

The US has the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution. I didn't ask for that law. My parents and grand parents didn't ask for that law either. It was part of the founding of the country, just like freedom of speech, freedom from religion, a free press. It is part of that history. At the time, it made perfect sense. Didn't want the British or those Canadians trying to overthrow the new country.

Today, the nearly absolute right to a firearm by any legal resident is probably more lax than it should be, but it is part of the history and has been interpreted very widely by the SCOTUS. They aren't likely to interpret it in any stricter way for the next 20 yrs. That means there are only 2 ways to get guns of all sorts less accessible to people in America.

a) repeal/modify the 2nd Amendment. This is next to impossible since about 2/3 of the people would need to back this for it to actually happen. There is a slight majority of city-fied people who would vote for this, but that isn't 2/3rds. Ain't gonna happen.

b) chip away, carefully, slightly, at gun purchase and transfer laws. Add laws to make locked weapons mandatory with stiff penalties for an owner whose firearm is used for any illegal purpose. This needs to be a nationwide law, which will never happen due to the only slight majority of 1 party being extremely common in the US law creation system ... plus the "states rights" generally would block much of this and the SCOTUS would find most restrictions unconstitutional.

I don't see any real way that is constitutional to keep firearms out of the hands of people who will commit crimes with them. Say there are 50M firearm owners in the US. Less than 10K people use them in crimes in a year. Penalizing nearly 50M legal owners and legal users of firearms due to 0.02% bad people seems a disproportionate response to me.

Lego didn't have any chance of winning this case, but they do have lots of lawyers and would easily bury this tiny company under legal paperwork for 10 yrs.

My family would go hunting a few times a year - as a family. It was fun. Some people go deep sea fishing. Some people go on cruises. Some people go on NYC shopping trips. My family would drive 6 hrs to the other side of the state and hunt. We'd get a large cabin and relatives would drive in from surrounding states. It was a family reunion, with a purpose. A 12-point buck would be nice to take home. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/19/mississippi-girl-bags-12-point-buck-while-doing-homework/4245909002/ The meat you take yourself means more. Kids should understand from where their food comes. This is the reality of most firearm owners outside a city. It is time with the family, having experiences and strengthening relationships.

I have no use for a handgun. None. They don't interest me at all. I suppose target shooting with a handgun might be fun for some people. I prefer a single-shot rifle. Actually, for target shooting, I prefer a single-shot air-rifle. I have no use for this Lego-handgun. It isn't like any father would buy one for their kids. It would purely be a collector's gun, probably never fired so it keeps the value. Just like how some people buy lego kits and never open them.

Please open your mind. Consider many angles. Emotional arguments over relatively tiny numbers of bad things won't bring any change. What changes can realistically be made to help reduce firearm related injuries and deaths within the legal framework of US Federal and State laws?

Danish toymaker Lego said Wednesday it had asked a Utah-based gun company to stop producing a product that makes a pistol look like it is covered with the famous multi-colored building brick.

In the US, it is common for children to make cars out of Legos. Also, children play with toy cars.

This needs to be stopped.

Automobiles are not toys. They kill twice as many people a year as guns in the US,

Legos should put a label on its boxes warning parents against the dangers of their children designing cars and trucks out of their Legos. It leads to dangerous driving habits later in life.

Can you think of a use for a car, other than to kill something? It might wrack your brain for a little bit, but I'll bet you can do it if you try.

This also isn't a toy, so it's totally bizarre to say it is. This is a real gun in a Lego-like cover. But if Perry wants to give a real gun filled with live ammunition to his child and tell him that it's a fun plaything, I only ask that he do it alone with his child in a locked room.