Ikea loses rights to brand name in Indonesia following supreme court ruling in favour of local company
Ikea has lost its trademark in Indonesia after the country’s highest court ruled that the named belonged to a local company that manufactures rattan furniture.
Ikea
PT Ratania Khatulistiwa won the case after the court settled the trademark dispute in its favour, recognising that the Ikea name was an acronym of Intan Khatulistiwa Esa Abadi, which refers to the rattan industry.
The Swedish retailer had registered the Ikea trademark in in Indonesia in 2010, three years before PT Ratania Khatulistiwa had, however the court said that it had not actively used its trademark in three consecutive years for commercial purposes. Under Indonesia’s trademark law this meant it could be deleted and so the local company owned the rights to the Ikea name.
A supreme court spokesman pointed out that the ruling was not unanimous after one of the three the trademark laws could not be applied to a company the size of Ikea, which was far bigger than the local firm.
Ratania brought the case before the central Jakarta district court in mid-2014, when Ikea was building its first, and only, store in Indonesia near the capital, Jakarta.
The district court ruled in its favour, ordering Ikea to cease using its name, which is an acronym for its founder Ingvar Kamprad, the farm Elmtaryd and village Agunnaryd where he grew up. Ikea appealed the decision to the supreme court which upheld the initial decision.