The owner of easyJet has launched a legal action to force Leicester pop band Easy Life to change their name, accusing the musicians of being “brand thieves”.
EasyGroup, which owns the budget airline, has accused the band of infringing the rights of the online retailer Easylife because their name is too similar. Easylife is an independent website that licenses its name from easyGroup for an annual fee.
The alternative indie pop band Easy Life was formed by Murray Matravers, in 2017. He and his bandmates, Oliver Cassidy, Sam Hewitt, Lewis Alexander Berry and Jordan Birtles, were signed to Island Records in 2018.
The company said in a statement: “With reference to the brand thief Mr Matravers and his fellow band members who have decided to use our brand, easyLife, without permission.
“We have a long established record of legally stopping thieves from using our brands and I am confident we will stop Mr Matravers.”
In an Instagram post shared on Tuesday (3 October), the band members of Easy Life issued a statement telling their followers they had “worked hard to establish our brand” and believe that they have not affected Easylife’s business.
The band added: “They’re forcing us to change our name or take up a costly legal battle which we could never afford. Although we find the whole situation hilarious, we are virtually powerless against such a massive corporation.”
The airline owner has a long history of suing companies that it believes use similar names to its family of brands.
EasyGroup, which was set up in 1998 by owner Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has a section of its website called “brand thieves”, which lists its international legal battles to protect the company’s intellectual property.
In 2018, the easyGroup took legal action against Netflix over its comedy series Easy, claiming its use of the name breached its European trademarks. In 2008, the Northampton-based restaurant easyCurry changed its name under the threat of legal action.
“Some people think they can make a fast buck by stealing our name and our reputation,” it says on the site. “They set up websites and companies using the name ‘easy’ (or phonetic versions of it) which can either pay a passing resemblance to an easyGroup company or be a direct copy.”
According to the BBC, EasyGroup said in its claim lodged with the High Court that the band had promoted their Life’s a Beach tour, in 2021 and 2022, with a poster showing a plane in the style of easyJet’s orange branding but switching the airline’s name with its own.
EasyGroup also said the band had produced T-shirts using branding similar to that of the firm’s.
Documents, obtained by the BBC, state: “By wrongly creating a link with the claimant, the defendant benefits from an association with that positive view and vast brand recognition, regardless of whether the link was intended to be provocative or humorous.”
EasyGroup reportedly said the band was “riding on the coat tails of the valuable reputation” of the company, adding it was “not presently able to estimate the financial value of this claim, but considers that it will be substantial”.
The Independent has contacted Easy Life for comment.
