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|operating_income = {{profit}} [[Euro|EUR]] 759 million (2011)<ref name="2011report"/>
|operating_income = {{profit}} [[Euro|EUR]] 759 million (2011)<ref name="2011report"/>
|net_income = {{profit}} [[Euro|EUR]] 558 million (2011)<ref name="2011report"/>
|net_income = {{profit}} [[Euro|EUR]] 558 million (2011)<ref name="2011report"/>
|num_employees = 9,374 (2011)<ref name="2011report">
|num_employees = 9,374 (2011)<ref name="2011report" />
|homepage = [http://www.lego.com/default.aspx lego.com]
|homepage = [http://www.lego.com/default.aspx lego.com]
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Revision as of 23:30, 9 January 2013

This article is about the toy company. For the construction toy, see Lego.

Template:Other uses2

The Lego Group
Company typePrivately held company
IndustryToys
FoundedBillund, Denmark (1932)
FounderOle Kirk Christiansen
HeadquartersBillund, Denmark
Key people
Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, CEO
Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, vice-chairman and majority shareholder
ProductsLego
RevenueIncrease EUR 2.510 billion (2011)[1]
Increase EUR 759 million (2011)[1]
Increase EUR 558 million (2011)[1]
Total assets27,877,000,000 Danish krone (2015) Edit this on Wikidata
OwnerKIRKBI A/S 75%
Number of employees
9,374 (2011)[1]
Websitelego.com

The Lego Group [a] is a family-owned company based in Billund, Denmark,[3] and best known for the manufacture of Lego brand toys.

The company was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Christiansen. The word Lego is derived from the Danish words "leg godt", meaning "play well." The word "lego" can also be interpreted to mean "I gather together" in Latin, and "I connect" in Italian.

History

Main article: History of Lego

The history of Lego spans almost 100 years of the existence of a toy that grew from small wooden playthings in the early 20th century into the center of a vast market of plastic building bricks that dominated the world markets for decades. It is one of the oldest plastic toys in the world. Its manufacturing was started in Denmark, but was eventually replaced by factories throughout the world. Today it is one of the most successful toys and has remained an iconic brand with a loyal and continuing following. Moved around the world around 1934. Is in the 'Top Ten Toys' around the world. Has been the most popular toy (not to mention, the most successful) and continues to grow today. The traditional date for the first Lego blocks is 1947, and the toys have continued to be produced with little interruption since around that time.

File:Legoland creation centre 6.png
First Lego wood models of the 30's (Creation Centre, Legoland Windsor).

Trademark and patents

Further information: Interlego v Tyco Industries

Since the expiration of the last standing Lego patent in 1989, a number of companies have produced interlocking bricks that are similar to Lego bricks. The toy company Tyco Toys produced such bricks for a time; other competitors include Mega Bloks and Coko. These competitor products are typically compatible with Lego bricks, and are marketed at a lower cost than Lego sets.

One such competitor is Coko, manufactured by Chinese company Tianjin Coko Toy Co., Ltd. In 2002, Lego Group Swiss subsidiary Interlego AG sued the company for copyright infringement. A trial court found many Coko bricks to be infringing; Coko was ordered to cease manufacture of the infringing bricks, publish a formal apology in the Beijing Daily, and pay a small fee in damages to Interlego. On appeal, the Beijing High People's Court upheld the trial court's ruling. [4]

In 2003, The Lego Group won a lawsuit in Norway against the marketing group Biltema for its sale of Coko products, on the grounds that the company used product confusion for marketing purposes.[5]

Also in 2003, a large shipment of Lego-like products marketed under the name "Enlighten" was seized by Finland customs authorities. The packaging of the Enlighten products was similar to official Lego packaging. Their Chinese manufacturer failed to appear in court, and thus Lego won a default action ordering the destruction of the shipment. Lego Group footed the bill for the disposal of the 54,000 sets, citing a desire to avoid brand confusion and protect consumers from potentially inferior products.[6]

In 2004 Best-Lock Construction Toys defeated a patent challenge from Lego in the Oberlandesgericht, Hamburg.

The Lego Group has attempted to trademark the "Lego Indicia", the studded appearance of the Lego brick, hoping to stop production of Mega Bloks. On 24 May 2002, the Federal Court of Canada dismissed the case, asserting the design is functional and therefore ineligible for trademark protection. [7] The Lego Group's appeal was dismissed by the Federal Court of Appeal on 14 July 2003. [8] In October 2005, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that "Trademark law should not be used to perpetuate monopoly rights enjoyed under now-expired patents." and held that Mega Bloks can continue to manufacture their bricks.

Because of fierce competition from copycat products, the company has always responded by being proactive in their patenting and has over 600 United States granted design patents to their name.[9]

Legoland

The Lego Group built four amusement parks around the world, known as "Legoland". Each park features large-scale Lego models of famous landmarks and miniature Lego models of famous cities, along with Lego themed rides. The first Legoland park was built in Lego's home town of Billund in Denmark. This was followed by Legoland Windsor in England, Legoland California in Carlsbad, US and Legoland Deutschland in Günzburg, Germany.

In July 2005, The Lego Group announced that it had reached a deal with private investment company the Blackstone Group to sell all four parks for €375m to the Blackstone subsidiary Merlin Entertainments. Under the terms of the deal, The Lego Group would take a 30% share in Merlin Entertainments and positions on their board.[10] The sale of the theme parks was part of a wider strategy to restructure the company to focus on the core business of toy products.

Since the acquisition, Merlin Entertainments has planned several new Legoland parks, and has opened four new Legoland Discovery Centres, which take the Legoland concept and scale it down to suit a retail park environment.

Retail stores

Europe

October 2002 saw a significant change in The Lego Group's direct retail policy with the opening of the first so-called Lego Brand Store in Cologne, Germany. The second, in Milton Keynes, UK, followed very quickly – several dozen more opened worldwide over the next few years, and most of the existing stores have been remodelled on the new Brand Store template. One of the distinctive features of these new stores is the inclusion of a "Pick-A-Brick" system that allows customers to buy individual bricks in bulk quantities. How a customer buys Lego pieces at a Pick-A-Brick is quite simple: customers fill a large or small cup or bag with their choice of Lego bricks from a large and varied selection and purchase it. The opening of most of these stores, including the 2003 opening of one in the Birmingham Bull Ring shopping centre in England, have been marked by the production of a new, special, limited edition, commemorative Lego DUPLO piece. Lego opened the first brand store in its home country Denmark in Copenhagen on 13 December 2010. There are currently 9 stores in Germany, 7 stores in the United Kingdom, and 1 store in Denmark for a total of 17 stores in Europe.

North America

In 1992, when the Mall of America opened in Bloomington, Minnesota, one of its premier attractions was the Lego Imagination Center (LIC). An imagination center is a large Lego store with displays of Lego sculptures and a play area with bins of bricks to build with. The store inventory includes a large selection of Lego sets for sale, including sets which are advertised in Lego catalogues as "Not Available In Any Store." A second imagination center opened at the Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Between 1999 and 2005, Lego opened 24 further stores in North America, and in 23 US states by 2011. As of 2012, there are 68 Lego stores operating or soon-to-be operating in North America in 27 U.S. States and 3 Canadian Provinces.[11] These stores sell various Lego merchandise, including minifigures, PICK-A-BRICK (where you can buy Lego bricks, paying for each brick. There is also a center where you can design your own minifigure, using various parts provided by Lego. You can create 3 minifigures for USD $9.99.

Financial results

Lego factory in Kladno, Czech Republic, established in 2000. This is one of four sites in the world where Lego toys are manufactured (Denmark, Hungary and Mexico are the others).

In 2003, The Lego Group faced a budget deficit of 1.4 billion DKK (220 million USD at then current exchange rates; equal to EUR 175 million),[12] causing Poul Plougmann to be replaced by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen as president. In the following year, almost one thousand employees were laid off, due to budget cuts. However, in October, 2004, on reporting an even larger deficit, Kristiansen also stepped down as president, while placing 800 million DKK of his private funds into the company.

In 2005, The Lego Group reported a 2004 net loss of DKK 1,931 million on a total turnover, including Legoland amusement parks, of DKK 7,934 million.

For 2005, the company returned a profit of DKK 702 million, having increased its revenue by 12% to DKK 7,050 million in 2005 against DKK 6,315 million in 2004. It also cut expenditures and disposed of amusement parks and a factory in Switzerland. Because the company expects further difficulties in the coming years, it plans to concentrate on profit growth instead of expansion of sales.

In 2011, sales for the company grew 11%, rising from $2.847 billion in 2010 to $3.495 billion in 2011. Profit for 2011 fiscal year increased from $661 million to $776 million. The increased profit was due to the enormous popularity of the new brand Ninjago, which became the company's biggest product introduction ever.[13]

Notes

  1. ^ Also stylised and trademarked in capitals as The LEGO Group.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "LEGO Annual Report 2011". The Lego Group. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  2. ^ "LEGO Homepage". The Lego Group. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  3. ^ "About Us". The Lego Group. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  4. ^ "Dual Protection for Industrial Designs Confirmed by Court". CCPIT Patent and Trademark Law Office. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  5. ^ Template:Wayback
  6. ^ Template:Wayback
  7. ^ "Jurisprudence in intellectual property law". The TeleMark. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  8. ^ "Kirkbi AG et al. v. Ritvik Holdings Inc". Telemark. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  9. ^ "Interlego's list of design patents". Ipexl.com. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  10. ^ "Lego Group in partnership with Merlin Entertainments" (Press release). Lego Group. 13 July 2005. Retrieved 17 September 2010.[dead link]
  11. ^ "Lego Stores Home". Stores.lego.com. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  12. ^ Frien, Bastian (21 August 2012). "The Disguised Dane. Available Online. Accessed on May 4, 2012". Cfo-insight.com. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  13. ^ Author : Roar Rude Trangbæk (1 March 2012). "Lego Group sales up by 17% in 2011". Aboutus.lego.com. Retrieved 9 October 2012. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to LEGO.
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