this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2025
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The original patent expired in 2011, after all: https://boingboing.net/2011/10/21/expired-patent-of-the-day-lego.html

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[โ€“] Blaze@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 week ago
[โ€“] OpticalMoose@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'd like to know too. I'd love to use Lego style bricks for robotics, etc, but the price... ๐Ÿ˜ฌ

[โ€“] Blaze@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yes, the prices now are quite insane. And the fact that Lego had a monopoly on the bricks for such a long time doesn't ring too good nowadays.

[โ€“] OpticalMoose@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

But I like that they just let the patent expire instead of going all Disney and trying to extend it for another century. I imagine Lego survives based on the manufacturing quality of their bricks, and their licensing (Star Wars, Marvel, etc).

I just want some plain old bricks I can put together and hook up motors and sensors to.

[โ€“] Blaze@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Wow, I didn't know about that. Shame. Oh well, I like a lot of the sets I saw in your other comment, especially the dune buggy.

[โ€“] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago

My sister got a mega blocks set in the mid-late 80s and while they fit with each other well enough, their compatibility with LEGO was abhorrent. As time went on her collection was rolled into mine, and I spent the next decade purging mega blocks from my LEGO, and on occasion I still find one.

In 2005 or so there was a very cool ork castle from an off brand we decided to get for my oldest daughter. It looked amazing, but had the structural integrity of rotted Lincoln logs. There were a lot of misshapen pieces and even the perfect ones did not quite fit.

I have never tried another knockoff since.