On January 28 of the year 1958, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen filed a Danish Patent Application for a toy building brick, which is now universally recognized as the LEGO brick. Corresponding patent applications were later filed in other countries, including the U.S. where the application issued as U.S. Patent No. 3,005,282. These patents were ultimately owned by the Lego company, which was run by Christiansen's family. The Lego company was based in the small village of Billund, Denmark, about 150 miles from Copenhagen. In 1934, the company had adopted the name "Lego", which was a contraction of the Danish words ‘leg godt’, meaning ‘play well’.
The Lego company had been selling an earlier version of the LEGO brick since 1949. The earlier LEGO brick was based on a plastic building brick that was invented by Hilary "Harry" Fisher Page of Great Britain and covered by UK Patent No. 529580 (issued in 1940) and UK Patent No. 633055 (issued in 1949). Page's building bricks were sold through his companies Bri-Plax and Kiddicraft under the name "Interlocking Building Cubes".
Christiansen's patented LEGO brick differed from its predecessors by having one or more tubes joined to an inside surface of the top wall of the brick. At least one tube was provided for each square of four studs on the outer surface of the top wall. The tube was aligned with the center of the square of studs so that two bricks could be interlocked by engaging the tube of one brick with four studs of another brick. This tube and stud system markedly improved the stability between connected bricks and made them more versatile.
The improved versatility of the patented LEGO bricks allowed them to be used to make bigger and more complicated structures, such as cars, boats, houses and even entire villages (see below). The expanded use of the brick enhanced the Lego company's newly developed concept of a toy "system" in which components could be assembled in a multitude of different ways and could be supplemented with different product offerings, all of which were compatible with each other. This toy system was dubbed the LEGO "System of Play".
The LEGO System of Play was improved and expanded upon with additional developments, such as wheel blocks and improved windows and doors and differently-shaped bricks, some of which were also covered by patents. The foundation, so to speak, of the LEGO system, however, remained the LEGO brick. This foundation became vulnerable to competition in 1978 when the LEGO brick patent expired in the U.S.
The Lego company fought against competitive bricks that started to enter the market in the 1980's, using copyright and trademark/unfair competition law, but was mostly unsuccessful. So, to stave off the competition, the Lego company had to rely on what it did best: innovate and market. And it worked. Today, the Lego company is the largest toy company in the world by revenue. But, just to be safe, the Lego company has obtained three dimensional trademarks on its famous brick.
The Lego company had been selling an earlier version of the LEGO brick since 1949. The earlier LEGO brick was based on a plastic building brick that was invented by Hilary "Harry" Fisher Page of Great Britain and covered by UK Patent No. 529580 (issued in 1940) and UK Patent No. 633055 (issued in 1949). Page's building bricks were sold through his companies Bri-Plax and Kiddicraft under the name "Interlocking Building Cubes".
Christiansen's patented LEGO brick differed from its predecessors by having one or more tubes joined to an inside surface of the top wall of the brick. At least one tube was provided for each square of four studs on the outer surface of the top wall. The tube was aligned with the center of the square of studs so that two bricks could be interlocked by engaging the tube of one brick with four studs of another brick. This tube and stud system markedly improved the stability between connected bricks and made them more versatile.
The improved versatility of the patented LEGO bricks allowed them to be used to make bigger and more complicated structures, such as cars, boats, houses and even entire villages (see below). The expanded use of the brick enhanced the Lego company's newly developed concept of a toy "system" in which components could be assembled in a multitude of different ways and could be supplemented with different product offerings, all of which were compatible with each other. This toy system was dubbed the LEGO "System of Play".
The LEGO System of Play was improved and expanded upon with additional developments, such as wheel blocks and improved windows and doors and differently-shaped bricks, some of which were also covered by patents. The foundation, so to speak, of the LEGO system, however, remained the LEGO brick. This foundation became vulnerable to competition in 1978 when the LEGO brick patent expired in the U.S.
The Lego company fought against competitive bricks that started to enter the market in the 1980's, using copyright and trademark/unfair competition law, but was mostly unsuccessful. So, to stave off the competition, the Lego company had to rely on what it did best: innovate and market. And it worked. Today, the Lego company is the largest toy company in the world by revenue. But, just to be safe, the Lego company has obtained three dimensional trademarks on its famous brick.
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