LEGO: Introduction

- LEGO is an official trade mark.
- The company is still privately owned and based in Denmark.
- The founder of LEGO was Ole Kirk Christiansen, who started making toys in 1932.
- LEGO means "I put together" in Latin.
- The toy consists of inter-locking construction bricks (made from plastic).
- Each LEGO brick, beam, floor panel and axel is compatible with every other part.
- Since the 1960's LEGO has been made from Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene.
- It was first developed in the nineteen forties.
- Presently LEGO is now amongst the most popular toys worldwide.
- The LEGO brand has expanded to amusement parks, films and video games.

Evolution

LEGO began humbly and for many decades it was simple a case of bags of plastic bricks. But as the popularity of the toy grew exponentially so did the themes and franchises with other brands.

By the 1980's LEGO had begun to introduce LEGO themes such as pirates, old world castles and knights, Vikings, and futuristic spaceships and robots.

By the end of the 80's LEGO was becoming increasingly complicated. Until then any young child could assemble most LEGO sets. But to attract older children and young teens, remote controlled LEGO sets with complicated gear and mechanical components were released.

The next move was to open amusement parks in European locations such as Windsor, and in the United States. Money spinning franchises with movies such as Star Wars, Harry Potter and Batman also helped profits.

The latest developments in the LEGO story is the release of video games (LEGO Island being one of the first), with recent releases such as LEGO Star Wars. The opening of LEGO retail stores, four in the UK and over thirty in the USA has also helped sales.

Significant Recent News

2009

- Despite the credit crunch, LEGO sales have continued to increase in the UK. A profit in the region of 90 million is expected for the year. Whereas the company was making a loss early in the decade, due to competition from high tech toys.

2008

- LEGO have lost a trademark appeal over the design of their plastic bricks. An EU court canceled the trademark status of LEGO in two thousand and four, and has upheld the decision. LEGO's trademark claim was challenged by the makers of Mega Bloks, the EU court stated that the functional shape of a brick should be available to any manufacturer.

- The fifty year anniversary of LEGO was celebrated by the building of a one hundred foot tower of LEGO bricks. The construction was held at the Windsor LEGOland amusement park, and took in the region of half a million bricks to make.

2006

- LEGO has recently been named the greatest plastic product. But questions have been raised about it's appeal in the future. Sales of it's regular plastic bricks have been hit by the advent of computers. The toy market has been stagnant for LEGO at the start of this decade. The question is whether they will venture out into video games and other high tech markets.