If I remember correctly, Germany is the biggest market for Lego, and a friend of mine works there, so I know, they had to fight the last years against the "technology in the children's room" like Playstation, Nitendo etc..
The Toys market is extremely competitive, the margins are low (one reason a lot of them go to Asia, e.g. China), and LEGO is well known for its tough financial management - so IMHO this is a far-reaching license, though it may not be much in terms of $.
It gives a clear signal to the other toy producers (and all the other high volume/low margin producers in the wordl), they lost the first mover bargain and every day the wait, the license could get more expensive - a real threat for your price and thus for your competitiveness, because every Cent in your calculation matters.
Really a very surprising licensee...but don't expect too much from Germany, we got burned too often hoping good news would stabilize the share price and after the first half hour in the US the price went down - so everyone will be waiting for the opening of the US-market.
But tomorrow maybe Patriot will buy some german shares to drive the price up...lol
GLTA
