By Jenna Greene, From The National Law Journal

The U.S. International Trade Commission on Wednesday gave a green light to toy maker Lego A/S to bring a patent and copyright infringement case against three competitors that are seeking to appeal more to girls.

In January 2012, Lego launched its “Friends” line—little Lego dolls named Mia, Olivia, Emma, Andrea and Stephanie, who live in the imaginary world of Heartlake City.

The company started its Friends line—which includes the Heartlake Shopping Mall and dolls with “a multitude of shoe styles”—to make “Lego play more interesting for girls,” according to Lego’s complaint. Lego said it found in studies that 91 percent of its primary users are boys.

Lego sued three competitors: LaRose Industries of Randolph, N.J.; Mega Brands Inc. of Montreal; and Best-Lock Construction Toys Inc. of Miami.

The competitors are attempting “to capitalize on Lego’s success by copying its innovations and products and preying on the vulnerability of Lego’s youthful consuming population, instead of developing their own product lines,” Lego counsel Elizabeth Alquist and Eric TeVelde of Day Pitney wrote. The company is also represented by and Tom Schaumberg and Michael Doane of Adduci, Mastriani & Schaumberg.

The product won “Toy of the Year” for the best toy overall at the 2013 International Toy Fair in New York, and with sales that more than doubled Lego’s initial projections.

Mega Brands, which was bought by Mattel Inc. last year, tried to persuade the International Trade Commission (ITC) to knock out the complaint early. The company argued that Lego did not meet the domestic-industry requirement.

Lego’s “global headquarters are in Denmark and its manufacturing of its products takes place outside the United States, primarily in China. As such, there is a real and serious question about its ability to meet the domestic-industry requirement under Section 337,” wrote Mega Brands counsel Gary Hnath, a partner at Mayer Brown. He asked the ITC to evaluate the case under a new fast-track pilot program.

Lego argued that it conducts “substantial licensing, research and development, and technical activities within the United States,” fulfilling the domestic-industry prerequisite.

Hnath countered that even if that’s the case, Lego has to show “whether the purported licensing activities relate to the design patents and copyrights asserted in this investigation.” (Italics in the original).

The ITC commissioners sided with Lego, voting March 11 to let the case proceed. It will be tried by an administrative law judge, and could result in an import ban on the infringing products.

Parallel patent infringement litigation is also pending in U.S. district court in Connecticut.

Photo: fieldwork/iStockphoto.com

For more on this story go to: http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202720274315/Lego-Sues-to-Block-Imports-in-Patent-Fight-Over-Toy-Dolls#ixzz3UB1yCJ6o