by The game website Kotaku recently reported that Jacob Shaw, the British developer of the independent game “The Store is Closed”, had earlier received a letter from a New York lawyer representing the furniture chain group IKEA, asking Shaw to transfer the game to the IKEA store within 10 days. Relevant flags removed.
“The Store is Closed” is a horror game based on a closed furniture store. It has not yet been officially released, but the game screen and video have been published on the game platform Steam and the crowdfunding website Kickstarter. Players need to evade the attacks of mutant staff and monsters in the furniture store, and can collect materials and make weapons to fight back. It can be seen from the game screen that the incident took place in a furniture store called STYR. The large dark blue building is decorated with bright yellow signs, and the staff uniforms are similar to those of IKEA staff.
IKEA’s lawyer, Fross Zelnick, said in the letter that the game used the logo associated with the famous IKEA store without authorization from its client. The letter defines “marking” as the game’s store with yellow letters on a blue background with Nordic names, a dark blue building, the same yellow uniform as IKEA employees, a gray line on the floor, furniture similar to IKEA products, similar to IKEA The product introduction card, the above are reminiscent of the game taking place in the IKEA store.
Although the building only appears on the main screen of the game, the developer Shaw also pointed out that the furniture in the game comes from general material packages, but the lawyer of the other party said that the media introduced the user’s message, which all reflected the relationship between the game and IKEA. Although Shaw disagreed with IKEA’s lawyer’s allegations, he decided to modify the game to avoid being sued because he did not have the resources to contend with the other party.
In response to the website Polygon, IKEA emphasized that although they are happy that someone is inspired by the IKEA brand, they also want to protect the IKEA trademark and appearance from being misused. There are many elements in the game that use the appearance and characteristics of IKEA, so contact the developer and contact the developer. Ask them to make changes. The developer understands the requirements and agrees to make the change, believing that the game can meet the expected 2024 launch schedule, and IKEA wishes the developer the best of luck.
Data and picture sources:polygon
unwire.hk Mewe page: https://mewe.com/p/unwirehk
