March 28 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria’s competition authority said it imposed a fine of 52,640 levs ($29,124/26,914 euro) on local wholesale distributor Mar 2000 for selling products imitating the playsets of Danish toy manufacturer Lego System, part of LEGO Group, the regulator said.
The fine represents 4% of Mar 2000's turnover for 2020, the Commission on Protection of Competition (CPC) said in a statement on Monday.
The antitrust body concluded that products under the trademark Bela imported and distributed by Mar 2000 are almost identical to the established Lego toys. The CPC also found that the Bulgarian company purposely benefited from the reputation of the Lego brand and its behaviour is a breach of good business practice.
The CPC first rejected in 2019 the complaint over an alleged product imitation filed by Lego System. This decision was later revoked by the Supreme Administrative Court of Bulgaria.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)