Is using the term "Legos" always wrong?

Question

LEGO tries very hard to protect its brand name. There is a company policy to use the expression "Lego bricks" rather than "Legos."

I am fortunate to live close to a Legoland and a LEGO retail store. However, I occasionally hear an employee say "Legos," and of course the (American) public uses "Legos" all the time.

Is this incorrect? Are we just being lazy?

No. It's not wrong. It's just sad that no one corrected them when they were young. I blame their parents, really. — Major Stackings, Mar 08 '17 at 07:15
See also the answers to Can anyone find a photo of the "LEGO Bricks" not "LEGOs" insert and the Meta question "Do we use LEGO or LEGOs" for both TLG's policy on usage and ours ;) — Zhaph - Ben Duguid, Mar 08 '17 at 10:19

score 7 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 25 '24 at 18:40

You can say "Legos" if you want to. But for The LEGO Group it's an important matter, because if people start saying "Legos" about similar products produced by other companies, LEGO might lose their brand if it is deemed genericized.

For instance, see Wikipedia which has an entry about "Legos" in the Generic trademark article:

The Lego Company has worked to prevent the genericization of its plastic building blocks following the expiration of Lego's last major patents in 1978. Lego manuals and catalogs throughout the 1980s included a message imploring customers to preserve the brand name by "referring to [their] bricks as 'LEGO Bricks or Toys', and not just 'LEGOS'." In the early 2000s, the company acquired the Legos.com URL in order to redirect customers to the Lego.com website and deliver a similar message. Despite these efforts, many children and adults in the United States continue to use "Legos" as the plural form of "Lego".

For LEGO guidelides, see this picture:

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 09 '17 at 17:17

(I feel like this should be pinned to the homepage or something, as I've seen this question a LOT.)

Here is a link to their official policy statement:

https://www.lego.com/en-us/legal/legal-notice/fair-play

Relevant excerpts:

"A Trademark must be Protected

A trademark must be able to distinguish the goods of one company from those of another. If a trademark loses this ability, the owner may find that it can no longer prevent others from using the trademark. An owner must prevent the improper use of its trademarks to prevent the public from being deceived. This is why the LEGO Group is very active around the world in making sure that its trademarks are not misused."

"Proper Use of the LEGO Trademark on a Web Site

If the LEGO trademark is used at all, it should always be used as an adjective, not as a noun. For example, say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGO BRICKS". Never say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGOs". Also, the trademark should appear in the same typeface as the surrounding text and should not be isolated or set apart from the surrounding text. In other words, the trademarks should not be emphasized or highlighted. Finally, the LEGO trademark should always appear with a ® symbol each time it is used."

Is using the term "Legos" always wrong?

2 Answers2