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WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND, October 30, 2001: Danish toy maker Lego has agreed to halt production of a range of toys based on ethnic cultures after protests about its use of indigenous Maori names for some toys. Lego senior executive Brian Soerensen has just returned to Denmark after meeting Maori lawyers in Auckland where he acknowledged that Lego had used Maori words in its Bionicle range of toys. “Lego have made a decision to withdraw from the market any future production of Bionicle toys based on Maori knowledge, or indigenous knowledge from any other culture, out of respect for the issues that we’ve raised with them,” said Maui Solomon who represents Maori claimants arguing for greater protection for Maori intellectual property. Lego is not withdrawing any of the current products, but won’t make new ones. The products included spiritual people called Tohunga (Maori for priest), face masks called Kanohi (face), a stone warrior called Pohatu (stone) and a tunneling character called Whenua (earth). The case is similar to one a few years ago where Matchbox Toys included several Hindu Deities amongst there “Monster in My Pocket” toy collection which were withdrawn after complaints from UK Hindus.

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