Hey, Lego my intellectual property!

But is this really the kind of thing you sue over? Well, yes. Yes it is actually.

Because I mean, is it--huh? Oh, sorry, let me explain.

At 88 square inches, if this were a real
NYC apartment, it would list for $3200/mo.

That's the Queer Eye cast rendered in Lego. Lego, in case you've not been following, has branched out from the Pirate/Space/City sets of old into tiny plastic versions of all kinds of thing. There's Lego Star Wars, Lego Harry Potter, Lego Superheroes, there's even been Lego versions of TV shows not aimed specifically at kids, like Seinfeld and even a set that recreates the cast and apartments of Friends (the TV show, not like people you know). It's a whole thing. And now there's a Lego set of the cast of the Netflix version of Queer Eye. Ok, so what's the lawsuit about? I'm glad I pretended you asked. 

The minifig--that's what they're called, the little people I mean. I guess it's short for mini-figure, doesn't matter. Anyway, the minifig for Antoni Porowski, the show's food and wine expert, is wearing a jacket that is based on a real-life jacket Porowski has worn on the show. The jacket was made by James Concannon, a clothing designer and personal friend of Porowski and he's kind of upset about it.

I don't want to "why in my day this," but a lego Pirate with a 
painted on eye patch was a big deal when I was a kid. Here, they've
even captured Antoni's slightly raised eyebrow and stubble.

Did you know George Lucas owns the
word "droid?" He didn't coin it, he just
trademarked it. Which is nonsense.

I mean, it's definitely the same jacket, like, 100%. But is it actionable? Like, first of all, I think we're way too obsessed with intellectual property and if anything, Lego's Antoni is wearing a parody of the Concannon's jacket, not the exact design. Lego could probably claim fair use or something. Sure. But then of course, I've never had my intellectual property stolen, and really the point here is that Lego could have asked. Instead, after the fact, when he called to ask about it, they offered him a Queer Eye Lego set for his kid as compensation. That's just--what's Dutch for a huge slap in the face? Because it's that.

I mean, they're a seven billion dollar company, and used his jacket without so much as a vær så venlig and then tried to give him a hundred dollar box of building blocks to shut him up. So yeah. This is absolutely the kind of thing you sue over. Go get'em.

"Please direct any further inquires to our tiny, plastic legal department."

-a spokesperson for Lego