IKEA has allegedly filed a stop and desist letter towards an indie developer over perceived similarities between horror recreation The Store Is Closed and IKEA shops.
The Store Is Closed is co-op survival recreation set in an “infinite furniture store” and can see gamers needing to “craft weapons and build fortifications to survive the night.”
Created by Ziggy, a one-man indie studio, The Store Is Closed is presently in its final week of a Kickstarter marketing campaign the place it’s raised £45,000 forward of a 2024 launch date.
However, in line with Ziggy (aka Jacob Shaw) IKEA’s attorneys contacted him in regards to the recreation earlier this week. According to Kotaku, the Swedish furnishings big’s attorneys filed a stop and desist letter towards Shaw claiming The Store Is Closed “uses, without our client’s authorisation, indicia associated with the famous IKEA stores.”
IKEA’s attorneys contacted me about The Store is Closed.. #IndieGameDev #gamenews #Ikea https://t.co/sKYCeozPKm
— Ziggy (@ZiggyGameDev) October 28, 2022
“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 grey path on the floor, furniture that looks like IKEA furniture, and product signage that looks like IKEA signage,” continues the letter. “All the foregoing immediately suggest that the game takes place in an IKEA store.”
Shaw has been informed that his “unauthorised use of the IKEA indicia constitutes unfair competition and false advertising under Sections 43(a) of the U.S. Trademark Act, 15 U.S. C § 1125(a), and state unfair competition and false advertising laws.”
Shaw disputes the claims, saying the yellow and blue signage is barely seen on the sport’s most important menu whereas all in-game furnishings comes from “generic furniture packs but several players and press outlets have compared The Store Is Closed to IKEA. Shaw has been given ten days to “change the game and remove all indicia associated with the famous Ikea stores.”
“I was going to spend the last week of my Kickstarter preparing an update for all the new alpha testers, but now I’ve got to desperately revamp the entire look of the game so I don’t get sued,” Shaw mentioned in an interview.
Earlier this 12 months, IKEA teamed up with dance titans Swedish House Mafia for a joint furnishings assortment.
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