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A Question Regarding Custom Bionicle


Aho

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Yeah, the LEGO Group doesn't really hold copyright on 3D likenesses of masks that they never depicted in 3D. But if you use a LEGO trademark like BIONICLE in the name or description, that MIGHT get you into legal trouble, so if you do, be sure to include a disclaimer that it is not not produced with permission or license from the LEGO Group.

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LEGO extensively copyrights the stuff that pertains to their various licenses, so making non-organic Inika masks with the same names as the actual masks might count as trying to pass off a fan-made product as the real thing. Most of the fan-created sets and molds also have that disclaimer that Aanchir mentioned.
 
As long as you include the disclaimer, you should be good to go.

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Something to keep in mind also is that if the LEGO Group does have a problem with something you're doing, the worst you'll probably face is a cease-and-desist letter so you can no longer sell that product through Shapeways. It's not as though The LEGO Group is going to sue you. They are too big a company and too careful about their relationship with fans to do anything that petty. So the worst-case scenario is you design custom masks, you try to sell them through Shapeways, and you're told to stop selling them.

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  • 4 weeks later...

From the experiences I've seen with shapeways and selling third party stuff, generally you'd want to avoid words copyrighted by LEGO. 

 

Let's take the Inika masks as an example, you could make a non-organic version of the Calix and the key words to avoid using would be Calix, BIONICLE, LEGO, Inika, etc.

 

 

Most Shapeways sellers will come up with their own name for something, even though the people buying it would know it is in fact referencing something else

-Kongu Champion Gukko Rider

 

"Two, Four, One, Ten, Two, Four, One, Ten. Am I Transmitting, Is Anyone Listening..?"

LEGO Universe Fan - BIONICLE Fan from 2001 - Discovered BZP in 2007

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From the experiences I've seen with shapeways and selling third party stuff, generally you'd want to avoid words copyrighted by LEGO. 

 

Let's take the Inika masks as an example, you could make a non-organic version of the Calix and the key words to avoid using would be Calix, BIONICLE, LEGO, Inika, etc.

 

 

Most Shapeways sellers will come up with their own name for something, even though the people buying it would know it is in fact referencing something else

"Custom Great Mask of Fate"

 

Actually, come to think of it, Kanohi is the Māori word for "face," so you could include that without fear of being shut down.

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From the experiences I've seen with shapeways and selling third party stuff, generally you'd want to avoid words copyrighted by LEGO. 

 

Let's take the Inika masks as an example, you could make a non-organic version of the Calix and the key words to avoid using would be Calix, BIONICLE, LEGO, Inika, etc.

 

 

Most Shapeways sellers will come up with their own name for something, even though the people buying it would know it is in fact referencing something else

"Custom Great Mask of Fate"

 

Actually, come to think of it, Kanohi is the Māori word for "face," so you could include that without fear of being shut down.

 

I don't think you'd want to risk it. I don't know for sure whether Lego has the trademark for Kanohi but there is nothing preventing them from doing so. Lego can trademark the word "Kanohi" for building toys (which a Lego-compatible mask would qualify as) just as easily as Hasbro can trademark words like "Bumblebee" or "Crosshairs" for action figures. Just because a word has a real-world meaning does not mean that it can't be trademarked for a specific application.

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Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

Aanchir's and Meiko's brother

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I don't think you'd want to risk it. I don't know for sure whether Lego has the trademark for Kanohi but there is nothing preventing them from doing so. Lego can trademark the word "Kanohi" for building toys (which a Lego-compatible mask would qualify as) just as easily as Hasbro can trademark words like "Bumblebee" or "Crosshairs" for action figures. Just because a word has a real-world meaning does not mean that it can't be trademarked for a specific application.

Sure, but the English-speaking people at large never sued Hasbro for using the word "Bumblebee" as a trademark.

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I don't think you'd want to risk it. I don't know for sure whether Lego has the trademark for Kanohi but there is nothing preventing them from doing so. Lego can trademark the word "Kanohi" for building toys (which a Lego-compatible mask would qualify as) just as easily as Hasbro can trademark words like "Bumblebee" or "Crosshairs" for action figures. Just because a word has a real-world meaning does not mean that it can't be trademarked for a specific application.

Sure, but the English-speaking people at large never sued Hasbro for using the word "Bumblebee" as a trademark.

 

Just like the Maori people never sued Lego over the use of the word "Kanohi". All of the names which were problematic (mostly those with religious connotations) were changed. Ones that weren't (like Kanohi) are presumably just as trademarkable as they ever were.

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Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

Aanchir's and Meiko's brother

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Just like the Maori people never sued Lego over the use of the word "Kanohi". All of the names which were problematic (mostly those with religious connotations) were changed. Ones that weren't (like Kanohi) are presumably just as trademarkable as they ever were.

Okay... I guess either way you're better safe than sorry.

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