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You broke their rules by not adding a trademark symbol after the word LEGO. You'll be receiving a C&D letter from their legal team shortly. :)

Some of their rules are ridiculous, for instance I have to use all upper case and am not allowed to use the word as a noun, for instance to call them "Legos" (I must say LEGO™ bricks, even though many of the pieces are not at all brick shaped).

Sorry but no.

That said, I'm surprised anyone would think it was a good idea to name their OS "LegoOS" and include pictures of LEGO™ bricks.



They don't want their trademark turning into a noun (or a verb), just like Velcro doesn't want their trademark to be used to refer to "hook and loop" [1]. It's not unreasonable for them to try to protect their trademark.

1 - https://youtu.be/rRi8LptvFZY


Yeah and it's not unreasonable for people to push back and say "I'm going to call them Legos if I want to." Obviously they aren't going to go and sue a mommy blogger because she refers to Legos wrong (much less me saying it on Hacker News), but still.

At least Velcro has a sense of humor about it. They recognize that no one in the real world is going to follow their rules, but they still have to say that they want you to, so the word doesn't get legally genericized.

They probably actually WANT you to use it generically, it helps their brand, since they are only ones allowed to sell it by the word everyone refers to it by. But they can't say that out loud, or it has negative legal repercussions.


I actually agree with you. Both sides are reasonable. I also didn't think of your last paragraph.


+1

Also, I ROFLMAO so hard when I read your comment and then looked up and realized your username was Frosted Flakes!


Trademark, not copyright. These are two very different things with quite different rules.


Ha, oops. I know that, I must be undercaffeinated today. I edited, thanks.


The proper term is Lego elements, not bricks.


Never that term, but that seems like it is even less likely to be used than "bricks."


I meant to say "never heard that term" but it is too late to edit.

If I heard "lego elements" I would guess that it was a new line, like Lego Mindstorms or whatever. I'd think "lego pieces" would be the more realistic thing to expect people to say.

But I'm still gonna call them "legos". And yes me and my daughter have more legos than just about anyone. :)




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