Counterfeit LEGO business caught in trademark policing swoops

The boss of an education company has been prosecuted by Shanghai's People's Procuratorate for counterfeiting the LEGO trademark, the city's procurators revealed on Thursday.

The company, located in a shopping mall in Songjiang District, was operating as an education institution called "LC LEGO Robot Center" and offering educational and technical services, said the procurators.

The man, surnamed Yao, displayed fake authorization and a qualification certificate for "LEGO" and "LEGO education" in his store.

"LEGO" trademarks were used in store signs and decoration, on posters and employee clothing as well as shopping mall signs to promote the shop.

The company was found to be offering training and education services at a cost of 510,000 yuan (US$79,860) from March this year, the procurators said.

The case was typical of those released in a press conference by the city's procurators who have strengthened their protection of intellectual property rights and rights holders' legal interests in recent years.

They recovered 53 million yuan in compensation for rights' holders in 2020, and so far this year have netted returns of 57 million yuan, the procurators said.

The informing rate of the rights and obligations of IP rights holders reached 99.69 percent last year and will hit 100 percent in the near future.