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263 points foxtacles | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.299s | source
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ranger_danger ◴[] No.44352308[source]
How is this legal? Specifically, distributing copyrighted assets and using their name/logo without permission.
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ktkaufman ◴[] No.44352607[source]
TL;DR: it's in a gray area, but nobody with power actually cares (at least for now), so it's effectively fine.

As I understand it, Lego is aware of the project (there's been a significant increase in interest in Lego Island in the past few years, with attempts to obtain the original source code) and simply does not care. It's an ancient IP and can't realistically compete with anything new, at least not in a way that would significantly affect Lego's revenue. This is not unlike the way several other companies have acted when their respective older games have been given the same treatment; if a fan project is not actively causing problems (reputational, financial, etc.), most companies will just leave it alone. For companies that actually seem to care about public opinion (as opposed to, say, Nintendo), I think it's fair to assume that the bad optics of taking legal action against a random fan project, however legally justified it might be, far outweigh any possible benefits.

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WA ◴[] No.44353053[source]
Nintendo and Lego are on the same level when it comes to sue people for trademark violations. There are several cease-and-desist orders against YouTubers for calling no-name bricks legos.
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stuaxo ◴[] No.44353605[source]
I don't know why, but the US invention "legos" is incredibly grating.

Its like a whole country called spaghetti "basgetti" as kids and just went with it.

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1. al_borland ◴[] No.44354135[source]
This is how I feel when I hear or see people use the word “maths”, but I simply accept the cultural differences in language.

Though I don’t think throwing an “s” on a word to make it plural, even if technically incorrect, is on the same level as “basgetti”. Adding an “s” to words to make them plural, is generally a good rule, there are just some exceptions, and not that many people are deep enough into Lego to know it’s one of those exceptions.