YOU MAY NOT have heard of it before, but IKEAHackers.net is a popular blog for those obsessed with the flat-packed furniture kings.
The site was started in May 2006 when one IKEA-lover decided he wanted all the “amazing ideas floating in the Internet” in the one place.
‘Jules’ (a pseudonym chosen after the IKEA ‘Jules’ chair) brings together all the best hacks of IKEA products – ways to make them better or useful for other purposes.
Such as this one, which tells you how to turn a computer desk into a loom stand with treadles. Really, look:
Or this one that turns a sideboard into an ironing table.
Are you obsessed now, too?
Well, we’ve hit a snag.
Jules has recently come into bother with the company he/she adores. IKEA’s legal team has reportedly sent a ‘cease and desist’ letter to the website, informing it that the URL infringes on its intellectual property rights.
After some negotiation, Jules claims s/he is allowed to keep the domain name but will not be allowed to make any money from it. Therefore, the advertising that had appeared on it through Google ads will now have to disappear.
In a blog post updating readers, Jules says:
I agreed to that demand. Because the name IKEAhackers is very dear to me and I am soooo reluctant to give it up. I love this site’s community and what we have accomplished in the last 8 years. Secondly, I don’t have deep enough pockets to fight a mammoth company in court.
However, s/he is disappointed with how the situation was managed.
Needless to say, I am crushed. I don’t have an issue with them protecting their trademark but I think they could have handled it better. I am a person, not a corporation. A blogger who obviously is on their side. Could they not have talked to me like normal people do without issuing a C&D?
Jules is adamant that s/he did not intend to “exploit their mark” but was just a “crazy fan”. Jules admits that s/he was “naive” when the domain name was registered.
It is not an excuse but that was just how it was when I registered IKEAhackers. Over the last 8 years the site has grown so much that I could not juggle the demands of a full time job and managing IKEAhackers. It also costs quite a bit to run a site this large. Since IKEA® does not pay me a cent, I turned to advertising to support myself and this site.
Jules plans on moving to a new domain name and has asked users to sign up by email to continue to be part of the “IH community”.
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