storenames

YELLOW FARM BRICKS

rules say store name can't contain the word "Lego". should there be a check to stop that happening, I see one already.

I feel like I've had this conversation before somewhere

Robert

Lawrence

Thanks, do you happen to know the back story of why that rule exists on BrickLink?

YELLOW FARM BRICKS

I believe TLC contacted Admin(Dan) about it recalling conversation at the time but of course I did not see the communication myself. I think they were concerned about stores being seen as the official stores but can't confirm.

bigdh

I remember a post on BL about it - something like he was contacted by TLG and was asked to stop allowing the use of LEGO in store names. If was a very long time ago and I know he put a deadline in for stores to change their names. I am sure someone else can probable remember more of the details, I didn't pay a lot of attention since it didn't apply to us.

Thor

This happened around 4 or 5 years ago. TLC contacted AdminDan to ask that the word LEGO not be allowed anywhere is store names. The reason was protection of the trademarked LEGO brand name and to avoid customer confusion about any such stores being affiliated with, sponsored by or supported by TLC. BL and AdminDan always had a good relationship and AdminDan did not want to jeopardize that relationship by ignoring or declining TLC's very reasonable request. BTW, TLC's request only mentioned STORE names. Individual usernames could still include the word LEGO.

This is no different than George Lucas or Warner Brothers or Disney not wanting their own valuable trademarked and copyrighted Star Wars, Harry Potter or Disney brand names used in any unlicensed or unauthorized commercial enterprise. For that reason, I would go so far as to prohibit ANY store names or "custom" listings which use or infringe the trademarked or copyrighted names of others. Allowing such names is an invitation for legal trouble and cheapens this site.

Thor

MinifigMan

I used to have a standalone Lego webshop that used the word Lego in the domain name. After about a year I was contacted by a legal representative for Lego who told me that the Lego trademarks cannot be used in domainnames, store names (if if it's different from the domainname), names of services etc

After research on the web I learnt that they usually want the domain name transferred to TLG, but they didn't request that in my case. So I then changed the store domain name and forwarded the old one till it expired and used the word Lego only in the subtitle of my store homepage (there were already disclaimers about brand property in the footer).

Background-info:
Official info: http://aboutus.lego.com/en-us/legal-notice/fair-play/
Disgruntled user (not me!) http://www.legogroupsucks.com/
Brickset discussion: http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/1407/lego-in-domain-names