
Inter IKEA Systems BV called me - zdw
http://www.ikeahackers.net/2014/06/inter-ikea-systems-bv-called-me.html
======
mtVessel
IANAL, but isn't it incumbent upon IKEA to issue a C&D, whether they want to
or not, in order to show they are actively using their trademark?

From what I've heard, if they didn't, someone else might have a case that
their trademark is open to use.

~~~
michaelhoffman
It's incumbent on IKEA to police unauthorized use of their trademark somehow,
but that doesn't have to mean that they must start by sending a nasty letter.
When Jack Daniels thought their trademark was being infringed, they started by
sending a nice letter simply asking the infringer to stop.

[http://abovethelaw.com/2012/07/cease-and-desist-letter-of-
th...](http://abovethelaw.com/2012/07/cease-and-desist-letter-of-the-day-
captain-jack-doesnt-need-mean-lawyers/)

Another way to deal with unauthorized use of a trademark is to authorize it.
So IKEA could have started with a letter asking IKEA Hackers suggesting a
potential agreement and a nominal fee. An imperative cease and desist letter
isn't required.

~~~
doktrin
The Jack Daniels C&D letter should be a case study in public relations. While
not universal, people really do respond quite well when faced with civility
and respect.

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nodata
_What will happen next?_

They will make the "IKEA Hackers" logo look less like the official IKEA logo,
and they'll put a big "not an official IKEA site" banner on each page. My
guess.

~~~
Udo
That's my guess as well. That would have been the solution to go with from the
start - putting in a simple disclaimer along the lines of "not affiliated with
IKEA in any way". It's what I would have done if IkeaHackers was my site.

If I was an Ikea exec though, I'd additionally suggest a partnership with the
site. Displaying Ikea ads and creating a funnel from individual articles to
Ikea's order form would be a great idea to benefit both the site and Ikea
financially. Not that Ikea needs it, but it's still good business sense.

However, we don't know what they'll come up with. It's a giant corporation so
pretty much anything is possible and it's probably too early to get your hopes
up.

~~~
jack-r-abbit
> _Displaying Ikea ads and creating a funnel from individual articles to Ikea
> 's order form would be a great idea to benefit both the site and Ikea
> financially._

It is possible that IKEA does not want to be associated with a site that
encourages people to use their products in ways they were not designed for. I
noticed a hack to make a baby changing table by taking an IKEA dresser and
attaching stuff to the top. Obviously that is something that anyone is free to
do with the furniture they bought at IKEA. But... if something happened and a
baby is injured and IKEA is seen as endorsing such a thing, they might be
sued. I know some places are more litigious than others but companies often
take some fairly hard-line "cover your ass" steps to avoid such a thing.

------
giarc
I can't tell what's an ad and what is content on that site.

~~~
cake
No shit, IKEA should hire this person just for the free marketing that it
constitutes.

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thisjepisje
So the cease & desist letter could've been just an over-enthousiastic legal
employee?

~~~
lnanek2
Not sure I would call it over-enthusiastic. If you don't protect your
trademark, you lose it. It's is probably standing orders for the legal team to
do that.

------
SomeCallMeTim
Given the obvious benefits TO Ikea of ikeahackers.net, it seems likely that it
was an overzealous legal department move to "protect" the trademark. It's easy
to forget how many people there are in a company like Ikea, and the fact that
not every trademark cease-and-desist gets vetted by the people who run the
company.

The thing is they should be able to protect it by simply "licensing" it to the
guy who runs ikeahackers.net and charging him an "undisclosed sum" for the
license (a dollar should make it legal, though IANAL).

~~~
jeroen
girl, not guy.

~~~
ansimionescu
I'm as anti-sexism as the next rational human being, but I too catch myself
doing this default-to-guy thing. Any idea why it happens?

~~~
msandford
I know that according to the dictionary "guy" means "man" but there's no good
gender-neutral word for "some person" especially if you want to be informal.

"Some guy couldn't make a right turn at the light for 10 friggin minutes so
now I'm late"

Not necessarily a guy driving (let's suppose I couldn't see the driver; I just
know their car didn't move for forever) and it's unfair/sexist to men to
assume it was a man, could have just as easily been a woman.

"Hey guys, is everyone ready to go to lunch?"

There might well people girls in the group that's going to lunch (there often
are) and I don't want to offend them. But "Hey people, " doesn't sound right,
"Hey folks," doesn't either, and "Hey everybody," isn't a good substitute
either:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8LqozaaB7s&t=1m12s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8LqozaaB7s&t=1m12s)

Anyone have a good gender-neutral word I can use instead?

~~~
mbrameld
In your first example I usually use some creative pejorative. In your second
example I say "folks".

~~~
silencio
I try to default to "hey folks" or "hey all" unless it's all male "hey guys"
or female "hey girls" or friends for sure "hey (words I don't normally use in
public)".

I also try to stick with "person", "someone", singular they, whatever is as
flexible as possible until I know what the person prefers to be called.

I do find myself accidentally defaulting to assuming he/she depending on the
context. Been trying to correct myself so I don't make people feel unwelcome
though. :)

------
Tepix
Ikea is evil, plain and simple. I'm boycotting them.

~~~
rqebmm
This is perhaps a bit overzealous, but for those who aren't aware, IKEA does
have a dubiously legal corporate structure:
[http://www.economist.com/node/6919139](http://www.economist.com/node/6919139)

