Best-Lock
{{Short description|Brand of construction toy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox company
|name = Best-Lock Group Ltd.
|logo = BestLockLogo.gif
|caption =
|type = Private
|genre =
|fate =
|predecessor =
|successor =
|foundation = 1997
|founder =Torsten Geller
|defunct =
|location_city = Colne
|location_country = England
|location =
|locations =6
|area_served =
|key_people = {{ubl|Torsten Geller (CEO)|Ben Page|(Managing Director UK)|Sven Hasselberg|(Managing Director Germany)|Jan Geller|(Head of Global Design and MD Germany)}}
|industry =
|products = Toys
|production =
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|net_income =
|aum =
|assets =
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|num_employees =
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|divisions =
|subsid = Cobi (part)
|homepage = {{url|best-lock.com}}
|footnotes =
|intl =
}}
Best-Lock Construction Toys is a brand of plastic building bricks that are compatible with Lego. Best-Lock Group Limited, which manufacture the bricks, is based in Colne, Lancashire, England.
History
Best-Lock was founded in 1997 by Torsten Geller after he looked into the legalities of Lego and other clones, which led him to look into Lego's past to find that Lego had copied their bricks from a British psychologist and inventor Hilary Page in the 1940s.{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Mara |title=Blocking And Tackling: A Nasty LEGO Copyright Battle |url=https://www.courant.com/2012/01/29/blocking-and-tackling-a-nasty-lego-copyright-battle/ |access-date=8 October 2018 |work=Hartford Courant |date=29 January 2012 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Seay |first1=Gregory |title=Lego locked in domestic copyright fight |url=http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/20120130/PRINTEDITION/301309998/lego-locked-in-domestic-copyright-fight |accessdate=8 October 2018 |work=Hartford Business Journal |date=30 January 2012}}
Best-Lock has been involved with multiple legal cases involving Lego. The company moved in 1998 against Lego's exclusivity claims to toy-block design. Best-Lock won the case in court thus allowing them to sell sets in Germany. They defeated a patent challenge from Lego in 2004.{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-13691552.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160225064546/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-13691552.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 February 2016 |title=Forty-year Monopolistic LEGO-Doctrine Ruling Reversed as Best-Lock Europe LTD Wins Patent and Trademark Case |publisher=Highbeam |date=28 March 2005 |accessdate=9 October 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://juris.bundesgerichtshof.de/cgi-bin/rechtsprechung/document.py?Gericht=bgh&Art=en&Datum=Aktuell&nr=32168&linked=pm |title=Pressemitteilung Nr. 147/04 vom 3.12.2004 |publisher=Juris.bundesgerichtshof.de |date= |accessdate=9 October 2012}} In a further case in 2009, Lego was denied trademark protection for the shape of its bricks.{{cite web|author=von RA Dennis Breuer |url=http://www.markenmagazin.de/pressemitteilung-des-bgh-nr-1582009-legostein-als-marke-geloescht/ |title=Pressemitteilung des BGH Nr. 158/2009: Legostein als Marke gelöscht | markenmagazin:recht |publisher=Markenmagazin.de |date=19 April 2012 |accessdate=9 October 2012}}
Best-Lock and Cobi, a Polish building block manufacturer with a strong presence in Eastern Europe and Asia, announced a merger on 2 February 2006, in which Best-Lock purchased a part of Cobi. Plans called for Best-Lock to shift manufacturing to Cobi while Cobi expanded its manufacturing facilities. The merger has since yielded co-branded building block toys. Toys are still sold under the separate labels Best-Lock and Cobi, but many Cobi sets appear in North American retailers such as Toys R' Us and Amazon.com under the Best-Lock brand.{{cite web|url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20060202005092/en/Lock-Group-Ltd.-Pleased-Announce-Merger-COBI|title=Best Lock Group Ltd. Is Pleased to Announce Its Merger with Cobi|website=Business Wire|date=7 February 2006|accessdate=25 November 2015}}
In 2000, Lego filed a three-dimensional trademark for its mini-figures, which Best Lock had duplicated since 1998. Thus in 2012, Best-Lock sued to get the trademark revoked. On 16 June 2015, European Court of Justice upheld Lego's figure trademark.{{cite news |last1=Butler |first1=Sarah |title=Lego blocks legal bid to remove trademark protection for its mini-figures |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jun/16/lego-trademark-protection-mini-figures-european-court-justice-best-lock |accessdate=8 October 2018 |work=The Guardian |date=16 June 2015 |language=en}}{{cite web | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/11678285/EU-court-rules-Lego-figurines-are-protected-trademark.html |title=EU court rules Lego figurines are protected trademark |date=16 June 2015}}
Products
Best-Lock offers different sized blocks including standard blocks, Junior Blocks (young children 2–5), and Baby Blocks (For kids 0–2). Themes for standard blocks include town sets (police, fire and construction), military, pirates, farming, and Kimmy (Best-Lock sets made for females). Licensed sets include The Terminator and Stargate SG-1 themes.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|www.best-lock.com}}
Category:Companies based in Lancashire
Category:1997 establishments in England
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