Police bust gang behind fake Lego brand Lepin – seizing toys worth £23m – By Sky News Staff (Sky News) / April 27 2019
Knock-off toys were being copied from Lego blueprints and sent to a factory in Shenzhen to be made before being sold across China.
Police in China have broken up a group which allegedly made $30m (£23m) worth of fake Lego.
Four people have been arrested after officers raided a toymaker called Lepin in the city of Shenzhen and seized 630,000 finished products.
The clampdown comes just a few months after police found “the building blocks available on the market were extremely similar to that of Lego”.
Knock-off toys were being copied from Lego blueprints and sent to a factory in Shenzhen to be manufactured before they were sold all over China, according to police.
Image: Lego Star Wars was named Star Plan. Pic: Chinese police
Authorities said the items had been made from 90 moulds at more than 10 assembly lines.
Lego Star Wars was named Star Plan, and sets which coincided with the Lego Movie 2 were copied and sold as the Lepin Bricks 2.
The knock-offs are popular in China with a small Lepin set selling for $3 (£2) a box, whereas similar Lego sets go for at least $15 (£11).
Lego’s China and Asia Pacific vice-president, Robin Smith, has been quoted as saying the counterfeit products could be a safety concern for consumers.
Image: Officers found 630,000 finished products in the raid. Pic: Chinese police
Foreign companies believe intellectual property rights are not enforced strongly enough in China where counterfeiting is rampant.
In February, the Danish toy giant opened its first flagship store in Beijing – which features replicas of the Forbidden City made of plastic bricks.
The company also has two shops in Shanghai.
