LEGO's legal department has a new enemy. This time it is taking on 3D printing platforms. One of them is defending itself against the takedown requests.
Several 3D model sharing platforms have received mail from the LEGO legal department in recent days. They were asked to remove LEGO-like models from their library. The Community reacted accordingly. "I understand that LEGO wants to protect its brand, but our own creations were in no way created with a commercial idea," says Maria Sohn, one of many model makers. Nevertheless, Cults and Thingiverse have already given in and complied with LEGO's request. Only one is still refusing: MyMiniFactory.
Since MyMiniFactory's mission is to respect and empower the community of 3D designers to maximise their creativity, rather than directly removing the content, we decided to open the discussion with our designer community.
There is still hope for you makers out there. Wang has announced that he will consult with his lawyers to clarify whether LEGO can legally demand this takedown. Until then, the models will remain available on his platform. So if you still want to use one of these models for a project, you'll have to hurry. It may well be that MyMiniFactory will also give in in the next few days.
What do you think of LEGO's legal action against the Maker community?
The competition has ended.
Riding my motorbike makes me feel free, fishing brings out my inner hunter, using my camera gets me creative. I make my money messing around with toys all day.