IKIKI / IKEA: The sequel

In January 2024, a Chinese company from Shenzhen filed a trademark application for a logo that looked suspiciously similar to IKEA's—the only difference being the word ‘IKIKI’ instead of IKEA.

IKEA filed an opposition, which we talked about in our previous blogpost here. Now, the EUIPO has come to a decision.

IKEA indeed had a strong case. The EUIPO analyses the trademarks: both marks employ a black rectangular shape with a white oval cut-out in the centre, bearing the bold and capitalised letters of the brand. Because also the words IKIKI and IKEA are visually similar— both starting with ‘IK’ and 5 letters versus 4 letters - the logo’s bear a striking resemblance. The EUIPO concludes that the signs are visually similar to an above-average degree.

It also confirms that the trademark of the Swedish multinational has an outstanding reputation in the EU. The grounds that IKEA claimed—a risk of confusion and an attempt to gain unfair advantage by benefitting from their reputation­—thus proved fruitful.

As we anticipated, the EUIPO rejected IKIKI’s application in its entirety, for all contested goods. No free riding on the coattails of IKEA for IKIKI.

This once again proves that registering your logo as a trademark comes with significant protection. Copying the graphical elements was an undeniable fact in this case. If IKEA had only registered a wordmark, this case would have likely had a different outcome. Thus, also registering your logo is recommended.

Author: Erik Stegeman

Bio: Erik Stegeman is a trademark attorney and specialist in trademark protection for bands, DJs and artists. His client portfolio includes many famous DJ’s like Charlotte de Witte, Swedish House Maffia and Tiësto. He writes a lot about music trademark infringements. And if you are lucky, he will give you hints on the latest band and DJ’s.