domains A new Irish company EasyFees.ie rebrands after EasyJet threat

[Lox]

A new Irish company has been forced to adjust its name following a legal threat from the parent company of airline giant EasyJet - originally called Easyfees (Easyfees.ie), it's now known as Ezfees.ie

A new Irish company set up to help property buyers save money on legal and estate agent fees has been forced to adjust its name following a legal threat from the parent company of airline giant EasyJet.

.... “We hereby invite you to withdraw the contested mark in its entirety. We also invite you to cease and desist all use of the contested mark.”It listed off several legal battles it had won in relation to companies using the word easy in branding.In response, Irish firm Byrne Wallace wrote: “The word ‘easy’ is a common word in the English language and is not capable of absolute protection by way of trade mark or otherwise.”

read more

 

[bmugford]

It seems like a pretty ridiculous and rather abusive complaint.

"Easy" is as generic as it gets, and they are not even in similar businesses.

This is the classic big company just being a bully. The merits of the case don't even matter.

Brad

 

[jamesau]

Nice bit of PR for a new company. Probably planned.

 

[lock]

Was thinking it was a reseller but not.

 

[cooljub]

That was easy.

How to stunt your own business by being spineless.

 

[Joe123]

It seems like a pretty ridiculous and rather abusive complaint.

"Easy" is as generic as it gets, and they are not even in similar businesses.

This is the classic big company just being a bully. The merits of the case don't even matter.

Brad

On the surface it does seem like a bully over-reaching. However, it is not so straightforward.

The easyGroup has many "easy" brands, including easyProperty. Check out the list on their website: easy.com

 

[VadimK]

On the surface it does seem like a bully over-reaching. However, it is not so straightforward.

The easyGroup has many "easy" brands, including easyProperty. Check out the list on their website: easy.com

As long as there is no trademark on ''EasyFees'' it doesn't matter how many ''easy''+ combinations the Easy Group is using - the defendant would have a strong case, imo. Of course there are more things behind it - like if the defendant intentionally tries to copy the Easy Group site/model/logo etc, but if not, if nothing is in ''bad faith'' - I would fight it.
Their new name looks pretty shitty: dot io, 2 words and one of them is typo - to me is not the greatest idea in the world.

 

[bmugford]

Their new name looks pretty shitty: dot io, 2 words and one of them is typo - to me is not the greatest idea in the world.

Yeah, I think the options are either to fight it or fully rebrand. The "ez" looks unprofessional IMO for a company dealing in a professional field like real estate and finance.

Brad