IKEA Patent Pledge

We developed new technical solutions with the long-term goal to support safe use of storage furniture, and to further reduce the risk of furniture tip-over accidents.

Our research and development have led to a series of inventions in the field of furniture stability. With the desire to help make life at home safer for everyone, we decided to make the inventions described in the Pledged Patents accessible for others to use.

We are dedicated to our mission to influence change in the furniture industry and to support people to live a safer life at home. In this work, we strongly believe in collaboration and by making this first step, we also encourage other furniture manufacturers to take this approach into consideration regarding their current and future technical solutions in this field.

For the reasons above, IKEA announces the following Patent Pledge:

Definitions

“IKEA” means the registered assignee of the Pledged Patents.

“Inter IKEA Company" means any legal entity ultimately owned and/or controlled directly or indirectly by Inter IKEA Holding B.V.

“IKEA Franchisee” means the legal entities, and its affiliates, that operate IKEA sales channels under franchise agreement with Inter IKEA Systems B.V.

“Pledge Beneficiary” is any legal entity or person which would be found to infringe any of the Pledged Patents when carrying out business activities in relation to furniture or furniture components.

“Pledged Patent(s)” are the patents and patent applications listed by IKEA at www.ikea.com/global/en/patent-pledge/#pledged-patents. We may add further patents to the list which will then become “Pledged Patents” as from the date they were added.

“Stability Solutions” are any technical solutions related to the stability of furniture.
 

Patent Pledge

IKEA commits not to assert any of the Pledged Patents against a Pledge Beneficiary. Since this commitment is royalty-free we consider it appropriate and fair that a Pledge Beneficiary in return will not act in a manner which is directed against the purpose of this Patent Pledge. Therefore, IKEA reserves the right to terminate the Patent Pledge if one or more of the following events occur:

• A Pledge Beneficiary initiates, threatens to initiate, or has a financial stake, in any action to attack the validity of any of the Pledged Patents or any other patents owned by an Inter IKEA Company related to Stability Solutions;
• A Pledge Beneficiary initiates, threatens to initiate, or has a financial stake, in any action brought against an Inter IKEA Company or IKEA Franchisee alleging intellectual property rights infringement related to Stability Solutions;
• A Pledge Beneficiary states or gives the impression that an Inter IKEA Company or IKEA Franchisee is associated with any of the Pledge Beneficiary´s products or services, or;
• A Pledge Beneficiary infringes any trademark, trade dress or other intellectual property owned by an Inter IKEA Company that are not specified as a Pledged Patent.

In case a termination event occurs, IKEA will, on its sole discretion, determine whether to terminate the Patent Pledge in relation to the Pledge Beneficiary causing the termination event. With effect from the date of the termination notice, the Pledge Beneficiary will no longer be considered a Pledge Beneficiary.

Our Patent Pledge is limited to what is explicitly stated here. Unless clearly and in detail described in any Pledged Patent, it does not refer to areas such as assembly solutions or design, it is not a promise to support the implementation of a particular solution or product, and it is not an assurance that any of the Pledged Patents covers any complete implementation. This Patent Pledge is not a representation that the Pledged Patents represent all patents that may cover any particular implementation nor that any activities covered by the Pledged Patents will not infringe patents or other intellectual property rights of a third party.

Besides the Pledged Patents, our Patent Pledge does not provide any rights to use any trademark, trade dress or other intellectual property owned by an Inter IKEA Company or by an IKEA Franchisee.

Transfer of Pledged Patents

Should any of the Pledged Patents be sold or transferred to a third party, we will ensure that the acquirer agrees to issue a public and binding declaration providing to the Pledge Beneficiaries the same commitment that we hereby provide. We will also require that the acquirer places the same requirement on any subsequent acquirer.

Pledge Beneficiaries’ own responsibility

The use of any invention or information in the Pledged Patents is under the sole responsibility of the Pledge Beneficiary. The Patent Pledge is not an assurance that the innovations described in the Pledged Patents will successfully address a particular stability scenario, nor that any of the innovations described in the Pledged Patents meet the stability requirements in a specific jurisdiction.

Legally binding

This Patent Pledge is legally binding, irrevocable, and enforceable.