JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – There is Samsung of South Korea, Sony of Japan, BMW of Germany and IKEA of Indonesia. Wait! IKEA of Indonesia? Yes, at least in Indonesia, if not worldwide.
The furniture giant, founded in Sweden in 1943, has lost a trademark dispute in Indonesia after the country’s highest court agreed the IKEA name was owned by a local company.
Indonesian rattan furniture company PT Ratania Khatulistiwa registered its IKEA trademark in December 2013. It’s an acronym of the Indonesian words Intan Khatulistiwa Esa Abadi, which refer to the rattan industry.
The Supreme Court’s ruling was made in May last year, but only surfaced publicly Thursday with its publication online by the court.
The ruling said IKEA, which registered its trademark in Indonesia in 2010, had not actively used the trademark in three consecutive years for commercial purposes and it could be deleted under Indonesia’s trademark law.