* Court rules Lego brick not registerable
* Company says disagrees with ruling, but will comply (Adds Mega Brands comment, stock reaction )
BRUSSELS, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Privately owned Danish toymaker Lego has lost a court battle to have its snap-together plastic bricks registered as an exclusive trademark in the European Union.
Lego had argued that studs on top of the bricks made them highly distinctive and, thus, eligible for trademark rights. The Luxembourg-based European Union Court of Justice (ECJ) upheld a 2008 ruling by the General Court, which dismissed Lego's challenge to the decision by trademark agency OHIM.
"Undertakings may not use trademark law in order to perpetuate, indefinitely, exclusive rights relating to technical solutions," it said.
In 2004, OHIM repealed an earlier decision to grant
trademark rights for Lego bricks after objections from Canadian
toymaker Mega Brands Inc
Lego, whose name originates from the Danish words for "play well," is Europe's biggest toy manufacturer and competes with Mattel and Hasbro.
Peter Kjaer, the head of Lego's intellectual property section, said. "It is naturally a matter of concern to us that use of the brick by others can dilute the trademark. But the worst aspect is that consumers will be misled."
Surveys found 40-60 percent of consumers believed they were buying a Lego product when a brick was used as a symbol, when in fact they were buying another product, Kjaer said.
Shares of Mega Brands, which said the ruling had no impact given the decision in 2004, rose more than 6 percent on Tuesday morning on the Toronto Stock Exchange before pulling back. They were still up 2 percent at 49 Canadian cents on above-average volume.
($1=$1.02 Canadian) (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Additional reporting by John Acher in Copenhagen and Solarina Ho in Toronto; Editing by Charlie Dunmore, Dan Lalor and Peter Galloway)