Cartoon stick figure standing on one LEGO brick and holding a LEGO brick in each hand — representing a blog post about LEGO Brick repeating pattern mark, position mark, and shape mark trademark registrations.

Trademark: LEGO Brick

First Registered: 2003

Current Owner: LEGO HOLDING A/S [1]

Trademark Type: non-traditional trademark; trade dress; repeating pattern mark; position mark; shape mark

Registered For: computer software [2]; commemorative books, plastic goods, and theme park services [3]; retail store services [4]; stickers, erasers, and ice cube molds [5]; and printed matter, namely, commemorative books featuring toys and toy company history [6]; but not for toy bricks

Brief (and likely incomplete) History [7]:

LEGO has an awesome trademark portfolio, ranging from traditional trademark registrations that protect the LEGO® brand name and logos, to non-traditional trademark registrations that protect features of LEGO bricks and LEGO minifigures. Today, let’s take a look at registrations for LEGO bricks!

LEGO introduced its first plastic building set in 1949 under the name “Automatic Binding Bricks.” A few years later, the company shifted to the “LEGO bricks” name, but the real issue was performance. Unfortunately, those early bricks did not lock together as reliably as modern ones. The defining brick moment arrived with the stud-and-tube design that gave the brick its signature clutch power and consistency. In 1961, LEGO received a patent for a Toy Building Brick that protected the internal tube structure (the patent expired in 1978).

Another big change came in 1963, when LEGO switched the brick material from cellulose acetate to ABS plastic, a move that improved stability and reduced warping over time. More recently, LEGO also experimented with changing what bricks are made of for sustainability, including prototype bricks from recycled PET bottles announced in 2021, then later scrapping that specific PET plan in 2023 after finding the process was not a climate win after all.

Now the registrations. LEGO bricks, including the LEGO Brick repeating pattern mark [2], LEGO Brick position mark [3], LEGO Brick (retail) shape mark [4], LEGO Brick (memorabilia) shape mark [5], and LEGO Brick (printed matter) shape mark [6], are registered trademarks for a wide range of goods and services, BUT not actually in connection with toy bricks!

Why not? Remember, trademark protection only extends to items that are non-functional. Things like the shape of a toy brick when used in connection with the sale of a toy brick are likely functional, but not functional when used in connection with other goods or services (like making a book the shape of a toy brick). A good example of how a mark can be registered when used on some goods or services, but not others!