Lego sues YouTube blogger who reviews their products online – after he criticised the quality of their £320 Bugatti Chiron set
- Lego Group has taken legal action against toy shop owner and YouTube vlogger
- Danish toy giant says it is suing Thomas Panke over his Frankfurt shop’s logo
- But he believes the legal dispute began after he posted a negative online review
- Review of the £323 Lego Bugatti Chiron car blasted the model as ‘a bad product’
Lego has sued a German toy shop owner and YouTube vlogger after he posted a critical review of one of the Danish firm’s expensive products.
Thomas Panke, 38, who boasts a YouTube channel with over 160,000 followers, gave up his day job to run his toy shop and post videos of himself building and reviewing Lego models.
Following a recent review of a £323 Bugatti Chiron model car, Mr Panke suddenly found himself facing legal action from Lego.
Thomas Panke posted a critical review of a £323 Bugatti Chiron Lego model (pictured). He believes his criticisms led to a lawsuit from the Danish toy giant
Mr Panke also owns a toy shop in Frankfurt called ‘Held der Steine’ – ‘Hero of the Stones’ in English – which reportedly has over two million Lego bricks and a wide range of similar toys.
The official reason given by Lego for the legal action was due to Panke’s logo, which features his shop’s name over a blue Lego brick, but the toy enthusiast says he believes some of his videos may be behind the lawsuit.
In his Bugatti Chiron car model review, viewed by over 150,000 people, Mr Panke blasted the Danish company for selling what he calls ‘a bad product’ for a whopping €370 (£323).
Mr Panke said: ‘Through a law firm, Lego has demanded that my brand logo is withdrawn at the Patent Office within a week.’
Lego claims the reason for taking legal action against Mr Panke was for his logo (pictured), which depicts a blue Lego brick with the name of his Frankfurt store, ‘Held der Steine’
Toy shop: The Lego shop owned by Mr Panke called ‘Held der Steine’, which is German for ‘Hero of the Stones’
In the legal letter, Lego claimed that consumers might confuse the store’s activities with those of the Danish toy giants.
He told local media that schoolchildren designed his store logo and that they considered Lego’s official guidelines before creating it.
As a Lego enthusiast who quit his office job five years ago to open his own toy store, Mr Panke said that he always reviews products honestly even if it means highlighting negative aspects.
He added: ‘I don’t let them send complimentary test sets to me, I am not obliged to Lego in any way. I simply review the products.’
Panke’s store reportedly has over two million Lego bricks and a wide range of similar toys
A Lego spokesperson said that the company ‘makes sure that third parties do not use anything that could dilute the Lego trademark, which we believe is the case with logos similar to ours’.
Mr Panke has since created a new logo showing a caped weasel in superhero style.
He said: ‘After the action, I would like to distance myself (from Lego) and not even buy directly from them anymore.
‘Building bricks from other manufacturers will now be featured in my shop and video uploads.’