Lego Launches Battle Over Trademark

Lego, maker of the iconic toy brick, is launching a legal bid to win back its trademark.

The company was last year stripped of the right to keep the brick's three-dimensional 2x4 shape as its EU trademark, after a challenge from rival toy maker Mega Brands, which markets Mega Bloks.

The EU's trademark office, OHIM, granted Lego the legal right to the shape in 1999, but then agreed with Mega Bloks' case that a brick was a functional, technical shape which could not be owned by any one company.

The company is challenging the previous OHIM decision, upheld by judges, that functional shapes, such as a brick or any other "industrial design" must be excluded from trade mark protection.