Wibra must stop producing and selling a collection of toys because it infringes Lego’s design and trademark rights. This follows from the ruling in summary proceedings at the District Court of The Hague. At issue specifically are flower models and animal figures constructed from plastic building blocks. The preliminary relief judge imposed a penalty of 10,000 euros on Wibra for each infringement.
Wibra sold a collection of flower models under the name ‘Mini Block Flower Arrangement’ and a collection of animal figures under the name ‘Mini Block Funny Animals’. The toys were referred to on social media by Wibra as ‘Lego flowers’ and ‘animals Lego’. According to toy manufacturer Lego, Wibra infringes its intellectual property rights by selling these products. For this, Lego points, among other things, to the ‘Botanical Collection’, a collection of flower figures marketed by the toy manufacturer itself.
Lego summoned Wibra in September to stop selling the products. In response, Wibra agreed to remove the products from its shops on the same day if it had not already done so. Wibra indicated that it was open to consultation and making arrangements in order not to escalate the case, but further correspondence and consultation between the parties did not lead to a solution.
The interim relief judge ruled that Wibra is infringing design and trademark rights by selling the flower models and animal figures. Wibra had insufficiently substantiated that the building bricks differ from the Lego models. A submitted overview should show the differences between the models and the building bricks, for example a small circular notch on the studs of the building bricks. However, the overview clearly shows that the differences are trivial and banal, the court ruled in preliminary relief proceedings. By doing so, Wibra infringes the design right. The judge also ruled that Wibra infringes trademark rights by advertising the products as ‘Lego flowers’ and ‘animals Lego’.
The court rules that Wibra must inform all its professional customers that it has withdrawn the toys from its range and will no longer supply them. It must also urge its suppliers to return the delivered toys and the costs of this will be borne by Wibra. A penalty payment will also be imposed on Wibra. If Wibra does not comply with the order, it must pay a penalty to Lego of 10,000 euros for each violation or 500 euros per product with a maximum of 250,000 euros.
Source: https://lnkd.in/ewg6uUg9 (translated from)
ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2024:18975
Photo: Ryan Quintal on Unsplash
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