Flat-pack furnishings mogul IKEA has despatched a stop and desist letter to indie developer Jacob Shaw requesting he make modifications to his work-in-progress survival horror title, which takes place in an infinite furnishings retailer.
As highlighted by Kotaku, attorneys representing IKEA declare Shaw’s shield, The Store is Closed, is committing trademark infringement as a result of it makes use of iconography and symbols which are extensively related to IKEA.
Shaw has been trying to finance the undertaking by way of Kickstarter, and has raised £52,882 by way of the crowdfunding platform on the time of writing. That means the undertaking has smashed its goal of £10,000 with three days nonetheless left on the clock.
On its Steam web page, The Store is Closed is described as “a co-op survival sport set in an infinite furnishings retailer.”
“When the lights exit, the employees assault. You’ll must craft weapons, and construct fortifications to outlive the night time. Explore the underground SCP laboratories and construct towers to the sky to discover a manner out,” continues the outline.
Although the IKEA identify hasn’t been utilized by Shaw, the retailer is taking concern with what it claims is the unauthorised use of “indicia related to the well-known IKEA shops.”
“Your sport makes use of a blue and yellow signal with a Scandinavian identify on the shop, a blue box-like constructing, yellow vertical stiped shirts an identical to these worn by IKEA personnel, a grey path on the ground, furnishings that appears like IKEA furnishings, and product signage that appears like IKEA signage. All the foregoing instantly counsel that the sport takes place in an IKEA retailer,” reads the stop and desist.
IKEA can also be utilizing snippets of press protection, together with reader feedback, to again up its copyright infringement claims, and notes that “quite a few feedback by readers of those tales [which mention IKEA] make an affiliation with IKEA shops.”
Shaw, nonetheless, has defined that most of the allegedly infringing signage – such because the yellow and blue “STYR” signal – solely seems briefly on the menu display, and informed Kotaku that the furnishings featured in-game comes from generic asset packs.
Still, IKEA’s authorized crew have informed Shaw that “unauthorized use of the IKEA indicia constitutes unfair competitors and false promoting beneath Sections 43(a) of the U.S. Trademark Act, 15 U.S. C § 1125(a), and state unfair competitors and false promoting legal guidelines,” and have given the developer 10 working days to make modifications to the undertaking and take away all offending indicia.
Shaw is at the moment looking for authorized recommendation, however feels that he’ll finally don’t have any alternative however to fulfill IKEA’s calls for.
“I used to be going to spend the final week of my Kickstarter making ready an replace for all the brand new alpha testers,” he informed Kotaku. “But now I’ve acquired to desperately revamp the whole look of the sport so I don’t get sued.”
