The past day or so, I’ve gotten a lot of emails regarding this piece of “news.” I saw some images on Facebook yesterday morning about it but brushed it off because I didn’t want to advertise it. A lot of people who saw the same images are outraged that this is going on and wanted me to write about it and maybe LEGO can see what’s happening.
If you didn’t read about it a few weeks ago, LEGO filed a civil action against LEGO bootleg company Lepin and the cases have been accepted in Chinese courts for further judgment. Well since Lepin is having some legal issues copying official LEGO sets, they’ve now turned to LEGO fans for inspiration for their next sets.
As you can see above, they’ve launched their Creators line and pretty much copied the Barnes & Noble and Starbucks Store project by wooootles on LEGO Ideas. Not only that, they have more sets copied shown on the back of the box such as the International Hotel by lgorlando and the Apple Square University by Pete Stege.
One thing to note is that when you submit your project to LEGO Ideas, you “give rise to any intellectual property right interest, hereunder copyright, patent rights, design rights etc., you hereby assign all rights worldwide to the content generated by you to LEGO” as stated in the Terms of Service so basically LEGO owns the designs of the projects for three years after it is no longer considered for production.
We all know what’s shared on the internet is on there pretty much forever and if a builder decides to share their instructions on a project, that’s one thing but if Lepin is just producing LEGO fans’ builds they share online, even without instructions, there’s really no way to combat that. So be careful what you post online as you may see your design becoming a Lepin set one day. It looks like we won’t be hearing the end of them any time soon.
**Also seen on Brickset**
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Did i read somewhere that lepin makes Legos out of a Lego factory? Doesnt that mean these are legit Legos?
no lego would never let that happen
Impossible. Although Lego does have a factory in China specifically for making specific parts (at a cheaper cost than say Denmark or Mexico), they still use parts made from various countries, which are then shipped to a location, sorted and incorporated into a set.
Components for an average Lego set are made in various countries.
Maybe LEGO needs to lower their prices a little
This is so stupid ugh. Also unless they know the creators of these mocs this is not the actual product in the box. Seriously knock offs are so stupid and annoying.
Son of a motherless goat! Just GET RID OF THEM!
I suppose it’s rather a perverse form of flattery to see one’s designs brought to life, even as a second rate knock-off. But the truth of the matter is, these pirates are taking advantage of the hard work of some talented designers with no compensation or even credit given. It’s disgusting.
Well, this is just terrible!! I know these knockoff companies had copied official figures and sets, and at one point customizers Minifigure’s but this is a whole other level!!! But, if it was one of my creations, I would have mixed feelings because, I would feel infuriated for someone coping my design, making a profit off of it, and not giving credit to the source but, I would also feel proud that a knockoff company felt my creation was “good” enough to be made into a knockoff set.
Part of the issue is: (1) Lego discontinued sets and then leaves folks with the expensive after-market, and (2) Lego sells in bulk to profiteers who mark up so much that it gets ridiculous.
So Lego could crush these guys by leaving things in the production cycle longer and then shut down all these guys on EBay, etc. that drive up the cost
I don’t mind these knockoff sets since I mostly collect licensed themes, but its messed up that are stealing the designs but at the same time not everyone can afford to drop $150+ on lego sets
Can’t wait until Lepin sets their sights on Mindstorms. Would like an EV3 for $100.