EU Court Backs IKEA Against Far-Right Party

Vlaams Belang launches its "Ikea Plan" to reform Belgium's migration and asylum laws, promoting it with signs mimicking IKEA trademarks and visuals styled after the retailer's instruction leaflets.

Inter IKEA, the Netherlands-based holding company that manages the Swedish retailer's intellectual property, files trademark infringement proceedings against Vrijheidsfonds, the association behind Vlaams Belang's campaigns.

Vlaams Belang makes considerable gains in Belgian elections, though other parties refuse to govern with it, according to Deutsche Welle.

The Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union rules for IKEA, answering a request for legal clarification from a Belgian court, and sends the case back for a final decision.

"A proprietor of a trademark with a reputation may prevent that mark from being used by a political party where the latter has not demonstrated that its freedom of expression takes precedence over the rights and interests of that proprietor," the court said in a statement.

The judges added that the campaign was likely to damage the brand's reputation and commercial interests, and appeared intended chiefly to trade on IKEA's renown to boost a political message.

What the Court Said