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Ikea Sends IkeaHackers Blog a C&D Order

Posted by samzenpus on from the stop-it dept.

An anonymous reader writes Ikea has sent the IkeaHackers blog a C&D order over the usage of the Ikea name. IkeaHackers hosts articles on how to hack Ikea furniture to make it more useful in daily life. From the article: "Speaking to the BBC, an Ikea representative said: 'We feel a great responsibility to our customers and that they always can trust Ikea... many people want to know what really is connected to Ikea - and what isn't. And we think that people should have that right. When other companies use the Ikea name for economic gain, it creates confusion and rights are lost.'

6 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. Kind of see their point... by Kenja · · Score: 5, Informative

    Site uses the Ikea logo and colors and contains no disclaimer. I can see how people could mistake it for an "official" site.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    1. Re:Kind of see their point... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Site uses the Ikea logo and colors and contains no disclaimer. I can see how people could mistake it for an "official" site.

      There's a right way and a wrong way to do this. Sounds like they have chosen the wrong way.

    2. Re:Kind of see their point... by msauve · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In what way was it "wrong?" The C&D likely came from a legal firm hired to police their trademarks, without any prior knowledge of IKEA.

      When IKEA got involved, the site was allowed to keep the name, with a disclaimer and for non-commercial use. That means no ads - most of which seem to be for items made for use with IKEA offerings, and which IKEA might consider to be competitive.

      Seems perfectly reasonable to me. The site owner is complaining because he can't fund his site (or make a profit?) by selling ads.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  2. Ikea evil? by just_another_sean · · Score: 5, Interesting

    While it does seem like they were kind of thuggish about it I can sort of understand IKEA's position. He's using their trademarks and name without much mention of the fact it's not an official site and while it looks like it's a neat DIY type of site it is also covered in ads. The explanation offered in the article is reasonable but he calls himself naive for not seeing this coming so he does seem to understand what he's doing wrong.

    I see him having two options; 1) comply and take down all the advertising plus put up a clear disclaimer that he's not affiliated with IKEA or 2) radically change the site to remove all mention of IKEA and their trademarks.

    1 seems like a better option for his community while 2 would be better for him, if he can keep his community going despite downplaying IKEA as an important aspect of it, e.g. just make it about furniture in general.

    While I can respect IKEA's stance I wish they could have done more to work with him, seems to me he's providing free advertising and a fair bit of fan excitement about their products. If they could set some reasonable guidelines on what they expect from a fan site I'm sure he guy would have complied...

    --
    Creationist Textbook Stickers Declared Unconstitutional by CowboyNeal
  3. Re:Confusion? Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Blame trademark law. They have to go after everybody or lose the mark.

  4. Re:Confusion? Really? by Charliemopps · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Blame trademark law. They have to go after everybody or lose the mark.

    The right way:

    Dear Ikeahackers.com,
                What a great site! We love what you're doing with our product! Keep it up. However, we've noticed that you're using our name and logo without license. That just wont work for various reasons it's not worth getting into. Nevertheless we need to address it to prevent future headaches. Please see the attached licensing agreement. It's for a period of 1 year with the condition that we can withdraw the agreement at anytime and it must be renewed yearly (this is just in case you sell the site to someone with less noble intentions, we'll be able to yank the license.) Please have a lawyer review the agreement, and if you agree, sign and mail it to the mailing address provided.

    Thanks and have a great day!
              The Ikea team

    Now, how hard was that?