4 ms·

I'm wondering about the legal side of this. Is it OK from LEGO side to have stuff like this and other similar tools? And what if when you start printing stuff

by jve 9y ago

I'm wondering about the legal side of this. Is it OK from LEGO side to have stuff like this and other similar tools? And what if when you start printing stuff like that?

kuschku 9y ago
LEGO’s patents expired a while ago, and competitors such as KREO have replicated the shapes and some of the models already. That said, no one is going to print LEGO – actual LEGO is a lot more robust and stable than anything you could print yourself.
- jve 9y ago
  Oh, I see. But replicating the existing plastic cube was not what I actually thought. I thought: what if I print/manufacture lego mega blocks from whatever material.
  - pbhjpbhj 9y ago
    You can't make "Lego bricks" as Lego is the trademark giving the origin of specific bricks but you can make near identical (missing the wording "Lego") bricks if you wish. If you do it at home and completely without any commercial aspect [giving them away can be commercial, so you have to take great pains to avoid being commercial] then you can make identical ones AFAICT. This isn't legal advice of course.
- amelius 9y ago
  Don't they have design-patents on the newer bricks?
cyphar 9y ago
I believe the tolerances on Lego for it to be "just right" are fairly narrow, and most 3D printers aren't precise enough (but I could be mistaken). It is likely that Lego has patents on parts of their brick design, so you could be in a fairly bad legal minefield if Lego decides to sue you. Also I'm not sure that describing your project as "a tool for designing Lego" is a good idea.
- Nullabillity 9y ago
  > I believe the tolerances on Lego for it to be "just right" are fairly narrow, and most 3D printers aren't precise enough (but I could be mistaken). Yup, the Lego tolerances are ridiculously tight, even for injection molding. 3D printing will generally give you results far worse than even the sloppiest injection molding process. > It is likely that Lego has patents on parts of their brick design, so you could be in a fairly bad legal minefield if Lego decides to sue you. Also I'm not sure that describing your project as "a tool for designing Lego" is a good idea. Lego's patents expired in 1989, that's why we now have stuff like MegaBloks. Lego did try to trademark their studded bricks, but that was shut down by the ECJ and others.
- cr1895 9y ago
  >believe the tolerances on Lego for it to be "just right" are fairly narrow As far as I'm aware this is quite an understatement. The tolerances and consistency of lego pieces is impressive, to say the least.
verinus 9y ago
While you can print LEGO there are several reasons not to: * you cannot print as precisely as LEGO bricks- so the quality is not the same * there are ugly layer bumps on the stones * the effort required * LEGo bricks are relatively cheap
jandrese 9y ago
As other people have mentioned it is generally not worth it, however I have seen some people print blocks that don't exist in traditional Lego sets. An example is a block consisting of three 2x8 flats joined in an equilateral triangle on the short edge. Presumably you need to set your printer to its slowest and most precise mode to get a usable block.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
Renderbricks 9y ago
The LEGO Group has some rules under Play Fair on their website: https://www.lego.com/en-us/legal/legal-notice/fair-play https://www.lego.com/en-us/legal/legal-notice/fair-play The patent for the bricks ended in 1988. But the Minifigures have a copyright. As long as you don't use all this for commercial purposes and profit they are very relaxed. Because their fans and community are a very important part of the LEGO brand.

by jve 9y ago

I'm wondering about the legal side of this. Is it OK from LEGO side to have stuff like this and other similar tools? And what if when you start printing stuff like that?

kuschku 9y ago

LEGO’s patents expired a while ago, and competitors such as KREO have replicated the shapes and some of the models already. That said, no one is going to print LEGO – actual LEGO is a lot more robust and stable than anything you could print yourself.

jve 9y ago
Oh, I see. But replicating the existing plastic cube was not what I actually thought. I thought: what if I print/manufacture lego mega blocks from whatever material.
- pbhjpbhj 9y ago
  You can't make "Lego bricks" as Lego is the trademark giving the origin of specific bricks but you can make near identical (missing the wording "Lego") bricks if you wish. If you do it at home and completely without any commercial aspect [giving them away can be commercial, so you have to take great pains to avoid being commercial] then you can make identical ones AFAICT. This isn't legal advice of course.
amelius 9y ago
Don't they have design-patents on the newer bricks?

cyphar 9y ago

I believe the tolerances on Lego for it to be "just right" are fairly narrow, and most 3D printers aren't precise enough (but I could be mistaken). It is likely that Lego has patents on parts of their brick design, so you could be in a fairly bad legal minefield if Lego decides to sue you. Also I'm not sure that describing your project as "a tool for designing Lego" is a good idea.

Nullabillity 9y ago
> I believe the tolerances on Lego for it to be "just right" are fairly narrow, and most 3D printers aren't precise enough (but I could be mistaken). Yup, the Lego tolerances are ridiculously tight, even for injection molding. 3D printing will generally give you results far worse than even the sloppiest injection molding process. > It is likely that Lego has patents on parts of their brick design, so you could be in a fairly bad legal minefield if Lego decides to sue you. Also I'm not sure that describing your project as "a tool for designing Lego" is a good idea. Lego's patents expired in 1989, that's why we now have stuff like MegaBloks. Lego did try to trademark their studded bricks, but that was shut down by the ECJ and others.
cr1895 9y ago
>believe the tolerances on Lego for it to be "just right" are fairly narrow As far as I'm aware this is quite an understatement. The tolerances and consistency of lego pieces is impressive, to say the least.

verinus 9y ago

While you can print LEGO there are several reasons not to: * you cannot print as precisely as LEGO bricks- so the quality is not the same * there are ugly layer bumps on the stones * the effort required * LEGo bricks are relatively cheap

jandrese 9y ago

As other people have mentioned it is generally not worth it, however I have seen some people print blocks that don't exist in traditional Lego sets. An example is a block consisting of three 2x8 flats joined in an equilateral triangle on the short edge. Presumably you need to set your printer to its slowest and most precise mode to get a usable block.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

Renderbricks 9y ago

The LEGO Group has some rules under Play Fair on their website: https://www.lego.com/en-us/legal/legal-notice/fair-play https://www.lego.com/en-us/legal/legal-notice/fair-play The patent for the bricks ended in 1988. But the Minifigures have a copyright. As long as you don't use all this for commercial purposes and profit they are very relaxed. Because their fans and community are a very important part of the LEGO brand.