Learn how a video advertising partnership between Shell, MediaCom and TubeMogul resulted in huge ROI for Shell in the Hong Kong Market. Following the success of their LEGO promotion in 2014, MediaCom and Shell looked to continue building momentum in Hong Kong with their LEGO 2 promotion. Watch the video case study and download the full report below. Shell’s objective was to create awareness by promoting a collectible set of branded Shell V-Power LEGO vehicles and accessories via video advertising. Shell had two goals: 1) 1.1% increase in overall fuel sales 2) 23% lift specifically in their premium V-Power fuel salesYahoo and LEGO planned to collaborate in 2015 to release a website to provide parental information, as well as product and animation of LEGO. VICOSYS was assigned to develop the website. The team used Yahoo’s micro-blogging system, Tumblr, to build up the website, LEGO bricks are used as the key element of the design. The website regularly provides rich contents, including LEGO blogging, animated GIF and photos.
On 16 June 2015, the General Court of the European Union (GC) has dismissed an application for a declaration of invalidity in respect of a three-dimensional Community Trademark for the shape of a LEGO figure. Rival company Best-Lock, which offers LEGO-compatible building blocks, had argued, among other things, that the shape of a LEGO figure resulted from the nature of the goods themselves and that the shape was further necessary to obtain a technical result. Both constitute absolute grounds for invalidity under Article 52(1)(a) and Article 7(1)(e)(i), (e)(ii) of the Community Trademark Regulation ((EC) No. 207/2009). In respect of the complaint that the shape of a LEGO figure is determined by the nature of the goods themselves, the General Court (Press Release No. 71/15) rejected that complaint as inadmissible in so far as Best-Lock did not provide any reasoning to show that the previous finding of the OHIM in that regard had in fact been wrong. Regarding the complaint that the trademark consists exclusively of a shape necessary to obtain a technical result, the Court held that the characteristics of the shape of the figures in question were not necessary to obtain a technical result.
Previously, in 2010 (C-48/09 P), the CJEU had ruled that all essential features of the shape of a LEGO Brick were determined by their intended technical effect, which is, that the bricks can be connected to one another. As such, a LEGO brick had not been capable of being registered as a Community trade mark. In the present case, however, the GC held that no technical result seems to be entailed by the shape of the essential characteristics of LEGO figures (heads, bodies, arms and legs), as those did not allow the figures to be joined to interlocking building blocks. Even if some elements of the shape could be regarded as functional, the overall purpose of the shape was simply to confer human traits on the figures.On 5 January 2015, the court ruled in favour of LEGO Juris A/S (LEGO) in a design infringement case brought against the Polish company, Artyk sp. z o.o. (ARTYK) (case No. XXII GWwp 24/13). The ruling is not yet final. ARTYK imported 246 sets of toy figures alleged to infringe LEGO’s registered Community designs 128681-0004 and 128681-0002.
The court ruled that, as ARTYK’s products only had different shape of the figures’ heads, they did not produce a different overall impression on the informed user. Whilst ARTYK did not challenge the validity of LEGO's RCDs, it argued that their scope of protection should be narrow on the basis that there was only limited design freedom available. The court found however that LEGO’s designs protect the specific shape of toys, which may be used in different products or toy sets, be made of various materials and decorated in different ways. The court did not agree with ARTYK that LEGO was trying to monopolise the human shape of toy figures because a human-toy may be represented in different ways and shapes. The designer’s freedom in developing the designs was wide - there were many considerably different toy figures on the market with a human shape. The court agreed that design freedom may be limited by functional, technical and commercial reasons but disagreed that market trends and fashion should be taken into account;
to conclude otherwise would result in narrowing the protection for new and original designs as they gained popularity and economic value due to the designer's efforts. This article is part of DesignWrites for July 2015Latest Telepresence and Visual Collaboration News: Fun Friday: The Polycom RealPresence Medialign 255 Videoconferencing System in LEGO February 19, 2016 | The Polycom RealPresence Medialign is one of coolest front systems for videoconferencing and even cooler is the limited edition LEGO version. There are only 200 in existence and my kids are working on one of them. The magic of having a LEGO version of your product is obvious. The magic of the Medialign is especially apparent to the folks who have to deploy and support video systems around the planet including countries where the local "Pro"-AV techs show up without a screwdriver. Every aspect has been thought out to not only simplify the installation but the monitoring and remote maintenance as well.
They throw in ease-of-use for the end-users for free. Every system comes flat-packed and can be installed in usually less than an hour and doesn't even require a screw driver. Each system breaks down to packages weighing less than 150 lbs to fit under the FedEx maximum for air-freight and fits in a standard elevator. Every system is front-servicable, the cables are color-coded, and amplified audio and HD displays are included. The abox central AV processor provides system control, signal routing, audio processing and power distribution. End-user control is simplified with Polycom's RealPresence Touch and the systems can be remotely managed including cycling the power on any component using absee, the company's remote monitoring and management server. The 255's "Big Brother" is the Polycom Medialign 270 with dual-70inch displays and Polycom's partner Ashton Bentley makes a mount for Array Telepresence's DX Camera to enable lifesize, immersive telepresence and improve the incoming scene from videoconferencing systems using standard PTZ cameras.