Swedish furniture giant IKEA has shut down a fan site and online microstore, Ikeahackers.net, founded by Malaysian Jules Yap, over trademark infringement.
The website, which has been operating for the past eight years, displayed modified, or “hacked”, versions of IKEA’s uber-popular furniture.
However, the site faced a shutdown notice, after Inter IKEA Systems B.V. sent it a Cease and Desist (C&D) letter, citing that Ikeahackers was in violation of IKEA’s intellectual property rights. After negotiations with the company’s legal team, Yap was allowed to keep the domain name Ikeahackers.net on the condition that the site is non-commercial in nature – removing the possibility of it displaying any advertisements and generating any revenue.
According to a post on her website, Yap says, “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.”
She does however go on to lament IKEA’s handling of the situation, stating that her site is the work of a blogger who is appreciative of IKEA products. “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, now faced with no way of generating income from the site, and needing to pay for maintaining the domain and its content, is mulling moving the entire online operation to a new website, and is asking fans and supporters of her work to sign up for her free mailing list and to spread the word about the Ikeahackers community and its efforts.
Those wishing to express their support and join the mailing list may do so at this link.
