<
https://www.techdirt.com/2022/11/03/ikea-bullies-indie-developer-into-changing-game-set-in-a-furniture-store/>
"Big businesses really should know better as to how trademark law works. Or,
failing that, their corporate counsels should. And yet we see far too often
that big businesses take an aggressive approach to anything remotely resembling
trademark infringement that they do not like.
Take
The Store is Closed, an as yet unreleased video game stemming from a
Kickstarter campaign. This game takes place in a neverending furniture store,
has horror game and crafting elements, and heavy exploration gameplay. Said
horror store briefly is shown to have a blue box architecture, a Scandanavian
name, and gray floors. Basically due to that, IKEA reached out to the game’s
creator, Jacob Shaw, demanding that the game be changed to remove all of that
“trademark infringement.”
“Our client has learned that you are developing a video game, ‘The Store is
Closed’,” the legal letter explains, “which uses, without our client’s
authorization, indicia associated with the famous IKEA stores. Your game
uses a blue and yellow sign with a Scandinavian name on the store, a blue
box-like building, yellow vertical stiped shirts identical to those worn by
IKEA personnel, a gray path on the floor, furniture that looks like IKEA
furniture, and product signage that looks like IKEA signage. All the
foregoing immediately suggest that the game takes place in an IKEA store.”
Where to begin. For starters, some of the items listed among the complaints are
fleeting at best. For instance, Kotaku’s review of a build of the game notes
that the look of the store and the signage IKEA is complaining about only show
up on the menu screen, rather than in the game itself. Also, IKEA isn’t
mentioned anywhere in the game or the Kickstarter. Instead, the store is named
STYR, which is a Swedish word meaning “controls.” As Kotaku notes, IKEA isn’t
even a Swedish or Scandanavian word."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
