LegoChem Bio mulls name change after defeat to Lego

South Korean biopharmaceutical company LegoChem Biosciences Inc. is seeking to change its name after it lost in a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by the Lego Group, the Danish toy giant famous for its toy construction blocks.

An unnamed official from LegoChem Bio said on Friday that the company is considering proposing a name change during a general shareholders’ meeting in March next year.

But the official said the possible plan to change the company's name was not affected by the result of the latest legal battle over its name against Lego.

“The name LegoChem is derived from ‘Lego’ chemistry, terminology that explains how molecules are joined like plastic bricks,” said the official. “As the company seeks to go global, we are mulling a name change, separate from the lawsuit.”

Korea’s Supreme Court recently invalidated the trademark registration of LegoChem Pharma in a lawsuit filed by Lego Juris A/S, which complains that LegoChem Pharma can easily remind Korean consumers of the widely known brick toy brand Lego and could thus affect Lego’s reputation.  

The Korean company registered LegoChem Pharma as a trademark in 2018.

The company said it has never officially used the disputed name since the trademark registration.

GLOBAL EXPANSION AHEAD

LegoChem Bio develops linkers, toxins and conjugation technologies useful in manufacturing and developing antibody-drug conjugates.

The company in December 2022 signed an agreement with US biopharmaceutical giant Amgen Inc. to license out its antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) technology platform for up to $1.2 billion, including the upfront fee and technology milestones. 

ADCs are targeted drugs that combine monoclonal antibodies specific to surface antigens on particular tumor cells. They are used in various cancer treatments. 

In June this year, it also got the nod from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of its ADC, LCB84, targeting Trophoblast cell surface antigen 2 (TROP-2).

The trials are planned in the US and Canada to assess the efficacy and safety of LCB84 as a single agent and in combination with an immunotherapy drug in patients with advanced solid tumors, including triple-negative breast cancer and colorectal cancer tumors.

Write to Jeong Min Nam at peux@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.