www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/12/business/lego.php
LUXEMBOURG: Lego, the biggest toymaker in Europe, lost a European Union court decision Wednesday over trademark rights for the shape of its famous toy bricks. The European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg rejected Lego's challenge to a 2006 EU trademark agency decision. Lego had argued that the knobs on top of its bricks made them "highly distinctive" and eligible for a trademark. The agency ruled the toys could not be protected because their shape served a technical purpose. The two rows of studs on top of Lego's toy bricks perform a "utilitarian function" and are not "for identification purposes in the trademark sense," according to the trademark agency, which is based in Alicante, Spain. The ruling Wednesday can be appealed to the European Court of Justice, the top EU court.
Germany enters recession, with other major economies close behind Charlotte Simonsen, a Lego spokeswoman, said the company, based in Billund, Denmark, was disappointed and "expects to appeal" the decision. While Lego won an EU trademark on the blocks' shape in 1999, Mega Brands, Lego's biggest competitor in the market for snap-together toys, objected. Mega Brands, based in Montreal, successfully argued that the shapes of Lego's bricks served a clear purpose and could not be protected. EU trademark law "precludes registration of any shape" that is "sufficient to obtain the intended technical result," the court said. This is the law "even if that result can be achieved by other shapes."
Iranian diplomat abducted in Pakistan The kidnapping of the commercial counselor at the Iranian Consulate in Peshawar on Thursday comes a day after the shooting death of an American aid worker in the same northwest city.
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