Ikea Turns On Internet Fanbase, C&Ds IkeaHackers

If you’re a big fan of Ikea, you’re probably familiar with the practice of “Ikea hacks,” or even the site IkeaHackers — which has probably driven a decent share of sales to the high-profile retailer.

IkeaHackers has been hacking Ikea furniture to make some interesting, inventive, and inexpensive new things for eight years. But now, the site is under fire and its future is unclear — because Ikea has finally come knocking for their intellectual property rights.

The issue of the fate of IkeaHackers has been widely discussed in the blogosphere after the site’s owner, Jules Yap (pseudonym), revealed that the popular blog was under fire and had been legally painted into a corner.

According to a post dated June 14, IkeaHackers and Ikea itself have been locked in a debate over the site and its name, and the issue of ads hosted to keep it going.

Ultimately, the IkeaHackers post explains, the site was forced to either change names or drop any ads from the site — leaving the server costs unsupported by ad revenue.

She laments:

“I agreed to that demand. Because the name IKEAhackers is very dear to me and I am soooo reluctant to give it up. I love this site’s community and what we have accomplished in the last 8 years. Secondly, I don’t have deep enough pockets to fight a mammoth company in court… Needless to say, I am crushed. I don’t have an issue with them protecting their trademark but I think they could have handled it better. I am a person, not a corporation. A blogger who obviously is on their side. Could they not have talked to me like normal people do without issuing a C&D?”

Yap adds:

“Now by June 23rd, I would need to take down the ads, not earn any income and still advance their brand on this site. Wonderful!”

On BoingBoing, Cory Doctorow lambasts Ikea for their sudden cease & desist action, opining that trademark law is often abused and suggesting Ikea is overstepping their ownership of a term that is “factual” in the context of the popular site:

“Ikea’s C&D is, as a matter of law, steaming bull****. There’s no trademark violation here — the use of Ikea’s name is purely factual. The fact that money changes hands on Ikeahackers (which Ikea’s lawyers seem most upset about) has no bearing on the trademark analysis. There is no chance of confusion or dilution from Ikeahackers’ use of the mark. This is pure bullying, an attempt at censorship. I’m shocked to see that Jules has a lawyer who advised her to take such a terrible deal.”

Comments on Yap’s blog post are almost entirely supportive, and one user vocalizes the most common weigh-in on Ikea’s aggressive move:

“I have used this site as an idea source which has then sent me off to IKEA to spend money. I think it is shortsighted of IKEA to not recognize the potential that lies in coupling with this site to emphasize the creative potential in their own products.”

Of course, an argument is clearly visible too for Ikea, in as much as they have no control creatively (nor liability-wise) over the site’s content — but it seems like such an issue could easily be addressed by bringing the IkeaHackers site into its corporate fold rather than killing it off altogether via injunction.

Following the Ikea cease & desist letter, IkeaHackers will be moving to a new domain. The address has not yet been announced.