Who’s Lepin
A Chinese building block company earned its name for copying sets from the well-known Lego brand. Absolutely, this is illegal in any country. Interestingly, the Chinese name of his brand translates to “Happy to Build”. Maybe its aim was to make building blocks accessible to a wider audience, but its act of copying is not advocated.
Reasons for Lego’s Aversion to Lepin
- Lepin has copied designs from Lego and violated Lego’s intellectual property rights, including patents and trademarks. This is the core reason fueling Lego’s strong resentment.
- This brand’s infringement has been perceived by Lego as a direct assault on its brand reputation.
- Lego also thinks that the quality and safety of Lepin’s sets are often questioned, which goes against Lego’s longstanding commitment.
- By copying designs, this newcomer quickly gains market share, causing the rapid loss of that for Lego.
The Rise of the Copycat King
Before the existence of Lepin, its founder established the brand ‘Meizhi’ which also sold replicas of Legos. It soon led to a downfall due to legal restrictions, but he tasted the sweetness and accumulated the initial capital. At the end of 20141, using existing molds, he teamed up with three other partners to begin the production of Lepin building blocks.
They started with the Cityscape series, leveraging the discontinued status of many existing sets to easily tap into the market. Moreover, during the same period, several major Chinese manufacturers in the market, including BoLe, DeGao, and S Brand, each had their own areas of focus and produced the original products. The Cityscape series had an extensive variety of pieces, full colors, and diverse shapes, required a lot of molds, and presented significant challenges in sorting due to its complexity, resulting in a situation where other manufacturers hesitated to step into production. With accumulated resources, Lepin swiftly entered the domestic and international market for Lego replicas, starting with the Cityscape series.
At its peak, Lepin accounted for most of the overall sales in the entire baby and toy category on AliExpress. Don’t forget, the toy is a major first-level category!
The Inevitable Downfall
However, after Lepin’s rapid expansion, they did something that offended almost all their peers – engaged in across-the-board price suppression by offering identical products at lower prices. For example, BoLe’s popular Friends Series 10498 Treehouse, was 78 yuan of the wholesale price, and Lepin produced the same model, selling it for 68 yuan. Short-term low prices benefit consumers but can disrupt the market in the long run. Limited profits make it difficult for producers to invest in research, development, and market operations. So, there were widespread complaints among peers. Because before Lepin emerged, if one factory was already producing a specific set, other factories tended to steer clear.
In 2016, Lepin was formally sued by Lego. After two years of legal battle, they were fined 15 million yuan2, which was only a small portion of their profits in 2016. The turning point in the situation also occurred at the end of this year. Because of the fact that the 15 million lawsuit in 2016 did not match the substantial profits, other manufacturers thought it was an opportunity. Many factories began boldly launching production lines to encroach upon Lepin’s popular models. In addition, an internal issue surfaced within Lepin, characterized by nepotism and misguided decisions to implement price controls on AliExpress. After 2018, the situation took a sharp downturn, and Lepin only accounted for a small portion of the total sales in the baby and toy category on AliExpress.
Breaking News
On April 23, 20193, the Shanghai police, with the cooperation of law enforcement in Shantou, Shenzhen, and other areas of Guangdong, successfully dismantled a criminal organization suspected of infringing on the copyright of the ‘Lego’ brand. They captured four criminal suspects led by Li, dismantled three locations, including production, packaging, and warehouses, along with over ten production lines, and seized more than 90 production molds, nearly 200,000 instruction manuals, over 200,000 packaging boxes, and more than 630,000 finished ‘Lepin’ toys, with the total value of the involved assets exceeding 200 million yuan.
Final Thoughts
Official sales of Lepin have been banned, yet many unofficial channels for purchase still exist. And its emergence undoubtedly has cast a negative impression on the Chinese toy market, particularly the building block industry. But its downfall will also bode well for this industry. Consumers will enhance their awareness of copyright and strengthen their sense of brand identity. Moreover, As the prices of Lego brand sets continue to rise, individuals are actively seeking more budget-friendly options. Lepin, in turn, has opened the door for other reputable brands to establish themselves in the industry. In the future, more Chinese building block brands that prioritize copyright, strive for originality, and produce high-quality sets will likely emerge.
References:
1. Liu Lizhan. (2019, May 18). Insights into Lepin. In Zhihu.
2. Sohu. (2018. September 5). Claiming 15 million!
3. The Paper. (2019, April 26). Lepin Toy Under Investigation.
53 Responses
To enter our Share&Comment Giveaway, read carefully the following:
Prizes
1st place: RC F1 61122 Red
2nd place: Flower Shop 21101
3rd-5th place: 40% off Coupon(choose one of the two)
How to enter (both required)
1. Leave a comment based on the question “How do you view the issue of Lepin copying Lego?”
2. Share this article on any of your social media platforms.
Giveaway Details
1. The giveaway is open to participants worldwide.
2. The Event ends on December 4th.
3. Each comment earns you an extra entry. More entries, better chances to win!
4. Winners will be randomly selected and announced on December 5th.
5. To claim the prize, winners must provide proof of your social media share(a screenshot or link).
6. Comments will be checked for ads, displayed after backend review, usually within 12 hours.
Don’t miss this opportunity to win our newly released sets and share the excitement with your friends! Good luck!
Winner Announcement – JMBricklayer’s 7th Share & Comment Giveaway (Lepin’s Rise And Fall: A Brief Journey)
1st place winner is Michelle Domangue, the prize is 1pcs RC F1 61122 Red car kit
2nd place winner is Mike McKnight, the prize is 1pcs Flower Shop 21101 set
3rd-5th place winners are Jesús GR, Raf, & Amy Meade, the prize is a 40% off discount code for one of the above mentioned prize sets
Thank you everyone for participating! To the lucky winners, please check your email/private message to claim your prizes timely!
Wow I was not fully aware of the history of this! Great read! I’m always a fan of respecting intellectual property. But I’m also torn as in my eyes Lego is way overpriced. But still stealing is stealing.
Thanks for reading! Hope more affordable brands with original designs emerge
I had never heard of this either
I do not have a problem with companies, coming up with original sets and competing, with LEGO , as long as they do not try and pass themselves off as LEGO. I think Lepin should have been prosecuted and all assets given to LEGO, as they tried to steal the LEGO identity. I like competition as it helps keep prices reasonable, but each company has to show a unique Logo and have their own sets not copy’s of other sets.
Yes, I also think that maintaining competition and maintaining market vitality will benefit us consumers and give us more choices.
Absolutely
Sure! Competition benefits in maintaining reasonable prices, and we should also emphasize the need for companies to have distinct identities and original sets.
I agree! Competition inspires innovation
Wow. I never knew that. Thanks for posting
You’re very welcome!
Wow. I never knew that. Thanks for posting
Same here. So interesting
Thanks a lot!
I think this violates copyright law. But China has been steeling things for years.
Every country has companies that seek shortcuts for profit. However, there are also many companies in China that respect originality and uphold innovation.
Not just China other places do it too.
Agreed.
I think Lego should either sue Lepin or get them to change their name drastically.
Sure! We should all respect the originality.
Well, looks like Lego did get them shut down
Lepin has officially ceased the production of building block toys now.
Great informative read thanks for putting this together!
You’re very welcome!
This issue happens a lot. I know it is going on with Magna Tiles.
Sure, it seems to be an issue that every major brand has to confront.
There are endless designs to be had! Why copy someone else?!?!
Sure! We should all respect the originality.
I feel that creators of direct cloned sets should be gone after, but at the same time Lego needs to relax its pricing/make older sets available.
Separately, other makers that use the Lego system should have a free reign to dream up whatever they want.
Lowering prices or making older sets more accessible might reduce the incentive for some individuals to seek out cloned sets.
Lego should not have to lower its prices. You pay what you want for a product or go with a different brand. I never say that Oreos should lower its price to meet the off brands. Same with Maganatiles and their competition. It is a premium brand!
The price of Lego is ten times Lepin‘s, which means that the cost of Lego is not solely reflected in its quality.
Its brand recognition! They have a premium name that can charge a premium price. They also have to do a lot of expensive license agreements to partner with Disney and other companies.
Absolutely! Brand recognition plays a crucial role in establishing a premium image in the market.
Lego’s competing companies should focus on creating original sets instead of making sets similar or identical to Lego’s
Exactly!
Absolutely, fostering creativity and originality is essential for healthy competition.
Exactly!
Without any novelty competition by price will die to other competitions by price eventually
Absolutely, the importance of innovation cannot be overstated.
Yeah but you cannot make your logo and items exactly the same or super similar.
credo che in questo settore c’è spazio per altre compagnie oltre che Lego, sviluppando quei settori in cui lego non vuole sviluppare o in cui è debole come i set militari o i set motorizzati
Molti marchi fanno un ottimo lavoro nella produzione di fantastici set militari.
I believe that in this sector there is room for other companies besides Lego, developing those sectors in which Lego does not want to develop or in which it is weak such as military sets or motorized sets
But to copy the designs and such a similar logo is so wrong!
I couldn’t agree more.
Many brands do a good job in producing cool military sets
This is fine to build those sets! Just don’t copy the logo or designs!
I never knew about this! Definitely wrong of Lepin to steal Lego’s ideas and make a cheaper, knock-off version that undermined the Lego company.
Absolutely.
It is so frustrating that it is happening to more and more companies. Look at what is happening to Magnatiles.
This is a frustrating event for older folks especially when buying items they do not fully understand for gifts for children. They think they are getting the right thing and it is not.
It’s saying we should understand and be cool about consumers making choices without all the info. Mistakes happen when folks aren’t aware of things beforehand.