![]() ![]() ![]() Trademark protects the name, logos, look, and feel of a brand or company in order to help customers identify who is providing them with goods or services. Importantly, the claims made by everyone’s favorite Swedish meatball purveyor masquerading as a furniture retail outlet are not rooted in copyright, which involves the rights associated with protecting creative works - those most commonly at issue in video game-related controversies. In particular, they allege, “Your game uses a blue and yellow sign with a Scandinavian name on the store, a blue box-like building, yellow vertical striped 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…” Such is the case for game designer Jacob Shaw (going by the studio name of “Ziggy”) and his first-person department store survival project, The Store Is Closed, which has caught the eye of Swedish furniture store IKEA.Īs set forth in a letter received by Shaw ( and verified by Kotaku), the lawyers at IKEA have taken objection to his project based primarily on the belief that the store depicted in his game infringes on the company’s “trade dress.” What was started as a platform for creators of all stripes to realize their dreams has become a platform for creators of all stripes to… learn more than they could ever possibly want to know about intellectual property law, particularly copyright and trademark. ![]()
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