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The Lego Company: Publish or Protect

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HBS’s The Lego Group: Publish or Protect?
Innovation and Intellectual Property Project

10.12.2014

Lego Group is the worlds’ fourth largest toy manufacturer. Their core product is a construction play design which allows for bricks to interlock together to design pre-designed or unique creations. In terms of volume and precision, the company relays on their core competence of “high volume precision molding” and has developed further strategies and technologies to ensure their growth and success in the area. The company is therefore faced with the difficulty in deciding how to protect this internal process and technology. Should this information be patented, kept as a trade secret, or published? This paper explores the options and proposes a possible solution for Lego Group, through careful research and analysis.

Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Main Body
3. Conclusion
4 Bibliography

Who is Lego Group?
Lego Group was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kritiansen in Billund, Denmark. In the beginning Lego Group made wooden toys and later (1946) changed their production to plastic interlinking building bricks after purchasing their first Plastic Moulding Machine. Lego group states that the “brick is their most important product” and although they have continued their almost 100 year expansion their core product remains to be their brick. In 1958 their “stud-and tube” coupling system was patented and by 2007 they managed to create a set for the Star Wars franchise of a model of the millennium Falcon which weighed 6 kilograms and features 5192 pieces to be exact. Today Lego Group is the fourth largest toy manufacturer in the world in terms of revenue and is aiming for future growth, faster adaptability and to stay competitive.
Fun Fact: The largest Lego model today is a

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