Brno, South Moravia, Oct 31 (CTK) – The Pirates party finally lost its legal dispute with the Lego company, as the Czech Constitutional Court (US) has dismissed its complaint, CTK found out in the judiciary database on Tuesday.
The dispute was caused by a 2012 pre-election video spot of the Pirates, in which they used the figures made from Lego building blocks.
Lower courts ruled that the Pirates have to refrain from using the figures and apologise to the company.
The party argued that the video spot was an artistic expression of its political position and part of its pre-election campaign, but not part of a business communication, hence it could not have interfered with the Lego trademark.
The party also said it was fighting the current view of intellectual property, as was reflected in its name, statutes, programme and election campaigns in the long term.
While the US ruled that the previous verdicts did interfere inadequately with the party’s freedom of speech, it, on the other hand, confirmed the lower courts’ view that the Pirates interfered with Lego’s rights and could have deluded people into thinking that Lego supported the party.
“The very fact that the plaintiff party does not identify itself with the relevant legal regulations does not mean that it can purposely ignore them and intentionally interfere with the rights of other entities,” the US wrote.
Before the regional election in 2012, the party produced an animated video spot using the Lego construction set figures. Prague’s Municipal Court then ruled in 2014 that the party must stop using the figures and apologise to the Lego company. The Pirates subsequently filed two appeals, arguing with their freedom of speech.
The Pirates entered the Chamber of Deputies for the first time in the October 20-21, 2017 election, gaining 10.8 percent of the vote and 22 of the lower house’s 200 seats.
