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Risky. They will most probably be hit with a cease and desist by Lego because it is Lego, and by Apple for unauthorized use of Apple parts. On a more serious n

Risky. They will most probably be hit with a cease and desist by Lego because it is Lego, and by Apple for unauthorized use of Apple parts. On a more serious notez absolutely great project!

jayfk 5y ago
It wouldn’t surprise me if they get sued by lego: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6623789/Lego-sues-YouTube-blogger-criticised-quality-320-Bugatti-Chiron-set.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6623789/Lego-sues-Y...
- OldTimeCoffee 5y ago
  You've linked a Daily Mail story with a baseless assertion and LEGO themselves said it was because of the logo of the store. The story has the owner of the store holding up a t-shirt of the logo such that it's somewhat obscured and the remaining focus is on the store itself.
  - em-bee 5y ago
    this guy unfortunately did make some mistakes. he did change his logo though, but he later got in trouble again for not clearly distinguishing between lego and compatible brands. however lego has been very heavy handed in dealing with him and others, causing him to choose to stop selling any lego in his store, focusing on alternative brands only. lego is trying to prevent competing brands to sell their models at all costs. currently they are fighting bluebrixx and johnny's world, who are both large german importers of alternative brands on the basis of the similarity of their minifigures, while those minifigures are not similar at all (except for the fact that they have the expected body parts and are compatible with lego bricks)
  - pantalaimon 5y ago
    Well he stopped selling LEGO after that and is now promoting LEGO alternatives which do have a better price / quality ratio. That LEGO tries to push any competition out of the market with shady legal tactics (e.g. claiming minifigures appear too similar even though they clearly feature different proportions and characteristics) while at the same time hiking prices leaves a bad taste.
    - em-bee 5y ago
      indeed. fortunately bluebrixx is now attempting to get the lego 3d design mark of their minifigures invalidated. not because bluebrix wants to sell minifigure clones, but because lego is using their 3d mark as basis for their claim that any other minifigures even dissimilar ones would violate that mark. bluebrix believes that they have a good chance to be successful.
offtop5 5y ago
Why though. You need to physically buy Legos for this project. It's not like their showing how to print Legos
- em-bee 5y ago
  the patents for lego bricks have long expired, so anyone can copy them, which is why we are now seeing many alternative lego compatible brands, because they are in fact legal. what is not legal is to clone the exact models that lego produces, and to pretend that a clone is lego, which it isn't. but as long as the alternative brands come up with their own models they are perfectly legitimate. as for this microscope, it's not even a product, just a design, there are websites where these designs are shared, and even sold (without the bricks which you have to acquire separately). you can even upload your own designs to a lego ideas site where you can promote it and ask lego to sell it as a model.
- lostgame 5y ago
  Not to be that person, but it's 'LEGO', whether singular or plural. I used to work for LEGO and they would take this really seriously. Similar to 'deer', one LEGO brick is one LEGO brick. A pile of LEGO bricks is still a pile of LEGO bricks. :) https://twitter.com/lego_group/status/842115345280294912 https://twitter.com/lego_group/status/842115345280294912
  - InitialLastName 5y ago
    LEGO (the company)has to take it seriously because they have to defend their trademark. Likewise, the manufacturer of hook-and-loop fabric closures has to be very clear [0] when a hook-and-loop fabric closure is their product or not, but lay-people are happy to call them all Velcro. [0] https://www.velcro.com/about-us/trademark-guidelines/ https://www.velcro.com/about-us/trademark-guidelines/ Edit: pronouns not my game
    - detaro 5y ago
      How is that relevant to the plural case?
blackoil 5y ago
Sued for making things with Lego!! That would be ironic.
rozab 5y ago
There is a huge market for unofficial sets (MOCs) which Lego has always allowed to exist. Distributing instructions is definitely fine. https://buildamoc.com/ https://buildamoc.com/

Risky. They will most probably be hit with a cease and desist by Lego because it is Lego, and by Apple for unauthorized use of Apple parts. On a more serious notez absolutely great project!

jayfk 5y ago

It wouldn’t surprise me if they get sued by lego: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6623789/Lego-sues-YouTube-blogger-criticised-quality-320-Bugatti-Chiron-set.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6623789/Lego-sues-Y...

OldTimeCoffee 5y ago
You've linked a Daily Mail story with a baseless assertion and LEGO themselves said it was because of the logo of the store. The story has the owner of the store holding up a t-shirt of the logo such that it's somewhat obscured and the remaining focus is on the store itself.
- em-bee 5y ago
  this guy unfortunately did make some mistakes. he did change his logo though, but he later got in trouble again for not clearly distinguishing between lego and compatible brands. however lego has been very heavy handed in dealing with him and others, causing him to choose to stop selling any lego in his store, focusing on alternative brands only. lego is trying to prevent competing brands to sell their models at all costs. currently they are fighting bluebrixx and johnny's world, who are both large german importers of alternative brands on the basis of the similarity of their minifigures, while those minifigures are not similar at all (except for the fact that they have the expected body parts and are compatible with lego bricks)
- pantalaimon 5y ago
  Well he stopped selling LEGO after that and is now promoting LEGO alternatives which do have a better price / quality ratio. That LEGO tries to push any competition out of the market with shady legal tactics (e.g. claiming minifigures appear too similar even though they clearly feature different proportions and characteristics) while at the same time hiking prices leaves a bad taste.
  - em-bee 5y ago
    indeed. fortunately bluebrixx is now attempting to get the lego 3d design mark of their minifigures invalidated. not because bluebrix wants to sell minifigure clones, but because lego is using their 3d mark as basis for their claim that any other minifigures even dissimilar ones would violate that mark. bluebrix believes that they have a good chance to be successful.

offtop5 5y ago

Why though. You need to physically buy Legos for this project. It's not like their showing how to print Legos

em-bee 5y ago
the patents for lego bricks have long expired, so anyone can copy them, which is why we are now seeing many alternative lego compatible brands, because they are in fact legal. what is not legal is to clone the exact models that lego produces, and to pretend that a clone is lego, which it isn't. but as long as the alternative brands come up with their own models they are perfectly legitimate. as for this microscope, it's not even a product, just a design, there are websites where these designs are shared, and even sold (without the bricks which you have to acquire separately). you can even upload your own designs to a lego ideas site where you can promote it and ask lego to sell it as a model.
lostgame 5y ago
Not to be that person, but it's 'LEGO', whether singular or plural. I used to work for LEGO and they would take this really seriously. Similar to 'deer', one LEGO brick is one LEGO brick. A pile of LEGO bricks is still a pile of LEGO bricks. :) https://twitter.com/lego_group/status/842115345280294912 https://twitter.com/lego_group/status/842115345280294912
- InitialLastName 5y ago
  LEGO (the company)has to take it seriously because they have to defend their trademark. Likewise, the manufacturer of hook-and-loop fabric closures has to be very clear [0] when a hook-and-loop fabric closure is their product or not, but lay-people are happy to call them all Velcro. [0] https://www.velcro.com/about-us/trademark-guidelines/ https://www.velcro.com/about-us/trademark-guidelines/ Edit: pronouns not my game
  - detaro 5y ago
    How is that relevant to the plural case?

blackoil 5y ago

Sued for making things with Lego!! That would be ironic.

rozab 5y ago

There is a huge market for unofficial sets (MOCs) which Lego has always allowed to exist. Distributing instructions is definitely fine. https://buildamoc.com/ https://buildamoc.com/