Daring to prefix an organization or perhaps a pop group’s title with “simple” might land you in authorized sizzling water, because the founding father of British airline easyJet relentlessly tackles alleged trademark breaches.
Greek-Cypriot tycoon Stelios Haji-Ioannou, whose easyGroup nonetheless has hyperlinks with the service, has got down to defend the “simple” model by threatening courtroom motion towards anybody deemed to be taking advantage of the title.
A proper criticism made by the person merely referred to as Stelios not too long ago pressured British indie pop band Straightforward Life, which additionally adorned posters with an plane displaying a likeness to an easyJet aircraft, into altering its title. It selected Laborious Life.
EasyGroup owns the licenses to a number of entities with the “simple” title. The pop band took to social media when EasyJet was suing it, saying it didn’t have the funds to defend itself in what could possibly be a prolonged authorized row.
To make sure, the airline group solely filed its trademark software for the “Easylife” title in 2020—a number of years after the band was based. Nevertheless, easyGroup has sought to guard the “simple” prefix because it owns many companies with related names corresponding to easyCinema and easyBooking.
‘Straightforward come, simple go’
“The issue with small model thieves if they’re left unchecked is that they develop into worthwhile they usually develop,” an easyGroup spokesman advised AFP in relation to quite a few ongoing lawsuits.
“Most of those instances by no means come to open courtroom because the model thieves realise that they’re within the mistaken and make modifications to the satisfaction of easyGroup,” he added.
Laborious Life nonetheless provides a nod to its previous, with the band’s account on X carrying the title message “simple come, simple go”.
Forward of releasing a brand new track in June it wrote on the social platform: “Secure to say the final 9 months haven’t been simple.”
EasyGroup and Stelios, who lives in Monaco, insist that their actions are within the curiosity of the buyer, to keep away from confusion and protect the corporate’s picture.
The spokesman added that “most of easyGroup’s income” go into the Stelios Philanthropic Basis.
The easyGroup mannequin sees it obtain royalties from licensing its model to 3rd events. It receives, for instance, 0.25 % of easyJet’s income, whereas the Haji-Ioannou household nonetheless owns 15 % of the service.
Round 1,200 official “simple” manufacturers exist, from playing enterprise easyBet to easyGym, easyHotel and courting web site easyWoo—lots of which exhibit the identical typeface and orange/white color scheme.
‘David and Goliath’
Unofficial “simple” corporations contacted by AFP cited colossal authorized charges as the rationale for backing down and altering their names when pursued by easyGroup.
“As a small enterprise it was extremely laborious to maintain up financially with solicitor charges so for me I’m joyful to go away this behind me,” stated Jozsef Spekker, proprietor of Stoke Jetwash.
The driveway-cleaning enterprise was referred to as Straightforward Jetwash till August.
The brand new title takes the title of the town the place his small enterprise is predicated in central England.
An mental property regulation specialist on the London Faculty of Economics, Luke McDonagh, described such instances as “David and Goliath battles”.
“Some folks name this trademark bullying, the place basically Goliath takes a case towards a David, a small firm that actually has no sources and can’t battle again,” he advised AFP.
“It’s not simply easyGroup, it will be mistaken to single them out, a variety of huge corporations do that,” he added, citing Apple, L’Oreal and tv broadcaster Sky as prime examples.
McDonagh believes easyGroup, whose branding extends to cruise firm easyBoat and household-products agency easyCleaning, “has been going too far in taking so many instances towards these small entities”.
“The aim of trademark regulation is to not give a vast monopoly on a phrase. It could be completely different if it was a completely made-up phrase, however ‘simple’ is such a standard phrase within the English language that different corporations want to have the ability to use it in an affordable approach.”
EasyGroup has loved “many authorized (trademark) victories over time”, the spokesman stated.
Even when it could not at all times seem to be a battle between equals, Stelios has misplaced a couple of challenges over the model’s title. In 2018, as an illustration, the group misplaced a case towards automotive seller Arnold Clark over the title of its cost system, Straightforward Pay.
Earlier this month, Easyfundraising, a virtually 20-year-old Staffordshire-based firm, gained a authorized battle towards EasyGroup alongside related strains.
The Excessive Courtroom in London dominated in favour of on-line platform easyfundraising, which is hoping to recuperate round £1.0 million ($1.3 million) in authorized charges, regardless of an enchantment hanging over the corporate.
“It’s telling that EasyGroup weren’t in a position to produce a single piece of proof displaying any buyer confusion has ever existed,” Easyfundraising’s CEO James Moir advised the BBC. Stelios, then again, stated he would enchantment the choice as he was “disenchanted” by it.
“It’s like a struggle of attrition, they usually simply hope that finally corporations give in, as a result of it’s too lengthy, it’s an excessive amount of trouble, it’s too costly,” Moir advised AFP.
