OTTAWA, April 29 (UPI) -- Canada's Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear Lego Co.'s appeal of a lower court ruling about the bumps on its plastic toy blocks.
Lego said the court's decision suggests the dispute is one of a small group of "exceptional cases involving issues of national importance," the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
Lego Canada and Lego holding company Kirkbi AG took Canadian toymaker Mega Blok to trial in 1996, claiming the look of Mega Blok's products infringed on Lego's trademark. They wanted an injunction and damages from Mega Blok.
Lego believes it has a trademark on the look of the bumps on its blocks, although the patent expired in 1978.
The company is "committed to protecting its intellectual property rights and to safeguarding the public from imitations which tend to cause confusion with consumers," general counsel Poul Hartvig Nielsen said.
