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Police in China have dismantled a gang accused of manufacturing and selling fake Legos worth about $ 30 million (26 million euros), authorities said.
A raid earlier this week in the southern city of Shenzhen resulted in four arrests at Chinese manufacturer Lepin.
Lepin's toys are generally sold at one-tenth the price of official LEGO products and have major differences in terms of craftsmanship and quality compared to the Danish manufacturer, a police source told the Xinhua News Agency. .
A city-themed Lepin set has a retail price of $ 3 a box, while similar Lego sets start at $ 15.
A Lepin case with a logo that closely resembles Lego
Hundreds of pieces found
The company was investigated last year for suspicion of Lego simulations. "In October 2018, the Shanghai police found that the Lepin building blocks available on the market were extremely similar to those of Lego," reads a statement from the police.
Read more: Lego announces job losses despite declining sales
The authorities said that in Shenzhen, they had found more than 10 assembly lines, where more than 90 molds had been produced and 630,000 pieces of fake Legos had been completed.
Lepin is accused of copying Lego plans and sending them to a Shenzhen factory to be manufactured and then sold throughout China.
Among the copied Lego products for which a Star Wars game is imitated that has been renamed "Star Plan" and the sets of the movie "Lego Movie 2" under the name "The Lepin Bricks 2."
Robin Smith, vice president and senior legal counsel for LEGO China and the Asia-Pacific, told Xinhua that counterfeit products not only had a significant impact on his business, but also posed security concerns.
Foreign companies have long denounced China's weak enforcement of intellectual property, which has led to widespread counterfeiting.
The Shenzhen raid took place just two months after Lego opened its first flagship store in Beijing.
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