|
|
Post by rybuger1 on Apr 28, 2019 2:15:59 GMT
Link to article.Chinese police have raided and shut down Lego bootlegger Lepin. I'm not very familiar with Lepin. Did they create any original designs, or did they just directly copy Lego? It'd be a shame to lose a company creating something new, but I don't have much sympathy for a simple bootlegger. Do you think this signals a change in China's attitude towards copyright law, or are they only going after the most blatant offenders?
|
|
|
|
Post by Deinonychus on Apr 28, 2019 3:24:15 GMT
Saw this news as well. Lepin was hit with a judgement in Chinese court in a case brought by LEGO, so this action isn’t out of nowhere. Lepin either directly copies LEGO sets and figures or makes their own sets by using designs lifted from fan designers. They also either own or are owned by the same company that runs XingBao. XingBao releases original sets and/or pays fan creators for use of their designs. I did kind of notice that a lot of XingBao had vanished from Ali Express today. So while I wouldn’t be upset to see Lepin disappear ( as it is I’ve only ever bought one Lepin set), it would be a damn shame if XingBao had to close up shop as well. Also, looking at the photos of the raid that the Shanghai police themselves posted, I was most struck by the picture of the cops standing in front of the assembled factory workers explaining what was going on. Sorry that all you people who’re probably making like, 35 cents an hour are suddenly unemployed, but we have to enforce the laws and judgements that protect LEGO’s ridiculous profit margins.  |
|
|
|
Post by shinypants on Apr 29, 2019 17:49:24 GMT
Dammit, now my long awaited Xingbao's leopard 2 tank will never see the light of day....!
|
|
Cappy
New Member
Posts: 24 
|
Post by Cappy on May 2, 2019 0:31:10 GMT
Lepin's website does say XingBao will continue operating as before. So there is hope they will survive. It will be a dark day if Lego is able to say the very concept of building bricks is theirs alone.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Hegemon on May 7, 2019 1:30:03 GMT
Lepin's website does say XingBao will continue operating as before. So there is hope they will survive. It will be a dark day if Lego is able to say the very concept of building bricks is theirs alone. Happily, they seem to have lost fairly definitively on that front, losing any exclusive claim to the "studs and tubes" format a number of years ago. |
|
|
|
Post by incalcatore on May 7, 2019 19:10:05 GMT
Lepin already reborn with name "nuogao".
|
|
