When does the patent expire? I feel like Lego needs to become an open standard that had multiple competing suppliers (or at least something similar to Lego)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

pretty sure it already has

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The trademark might never expire, though. And Lego alternatives are pretty shabby.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

yeah the trademark is a bit of a thing I do feel like that should probably be genericised as that's just the name of the object at this point but not all lego alternatives are bad I'm pretty sure you can find good alternatives for a decent price I don't know for certain as I'm not into lego but I highly doubt lego the company are the only company that make decent lego

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

There are Chinese companies that make ripoffs but it's made of much cheaper plastic and the shape of the bricks is different (edges are rounded instead of right angles)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

yeah I'm not saying there aren't bad ones but I'm sure if you looked you could find a midzone where they aren't that cheap cause they use better materials and have higher quality but without the insane prices of lego the company

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Manufacturing them would be a really high bar. Someone would have to equip themselves to manufacture them and also chase the sponsorships that make it sell so well.