4 ms·
I smell a lawsuit, or at least a C&D. I used to work for LEGO. They have more lawyers than I've ever seen anywhere else.
by lostgame 8y ago
I smell a lawsuit, or at least a C&D.
I used to work for LEGO. They have more lawyers than I've ever seen anywhere else.
- 1manowar1 8y agoWrong! In 1978, LEGO's major patent expired in the US (20 years after it was filed in 1958).
- cyphar 8y agoPatents are entirely unrelated to trademarks. I very much doubt that an operating system would be able to infringe on a patent for interconnecting plastic blocks. An operating system called "LegoOS" might infringe on the trademark of a plastic block company called "LEGO" (though one of the tests is "likelihood of confusion" and it would be hard to confuse the two).
- danaur 8y agoEspecially considering LEGOs products in the beginner electronics /robotics space.
- teraflop 8y agoThere actually used to be a "legOS" project (homebrew firmware for the original Lego Mindstorms) and they were politely but firmly asked to change their name. https://news.lugnet.com/robotics/rcx/legos/?n=2641 https://news.lugnet.com/robotics/rcx/legos/?n=2641
- userbinator 8y agoI would've suggested footOS, after considering that armOS might also upset ARM.
- cyphar 8y agoTrademark infringement requires a bit more than just using the name (likelihood of confusion is one of the tests), but given that companies need to aggressively defend their trademark to keep it they might file a suit anyway.
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoI get how that would happen if a company used the name commercially, but wouldn’t this be classed under fair use as long as the usage was non commercial? Anyways, IANAL.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- ketzu 8y ago(INAL as well, but as far as I know:) Trademark fair use is different from copyright fair use. In short trademark fair use is if you use it to reference the original (e.g., "compatible with WindowsTM") or if its not used as a trademark to describe your service. (WD-40 example I found used "inhibitor" while "THE INHIBITOR" was trademarked)
- asmosoinio 8y agoExactly - this is what happened to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrickOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrickOS (previously legOS). BrickOS is an alternative OS for the Lego Mindstorms kit.
- lostgame 8y agoI'd argue this is worse, as it directly relates to LEGO's products, but LEGO is just very protective of their brand name in general.
- watson 8y agoWhen I read the title, I honestly thought this was an official LEGO thing. This is exactly why it's important for a company like LEGO to protect its trademark. I realize this is just an homage to LEGO and I'm sure they know and appreciate that. But they still need to defend their trademark. If they don't, anybody could just use their name for whatever they wanted - even things they DO NOT want to be associated with.
- uremog 8y agoI thought this was some kind of project for automating LEGO deconstruction down to the smallest possible bricks (hardware).
- m4tthumphrey 8y agoI'll call your LEGO lawyers and raise you Disney lawyers.
- vectorEQ 8y agoLEGOFUCKYOURSELF-OS you could argue the le is french :D