EasyGroup

Last updated

EasyGroup Ltd
Formerly
  • Gregshot Limited (2000)
  • Easygroup IP Licensing Limited (2000-2014) [1]
Company type Private
Industry Conglomerate
Founded1998;26 years ago (1998)
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Productsvarious
Owner Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou
Subsidiaries EasyGroup IP Licensing Ltd
Website easy.com

EasyGroup Ltd (styled as easyGroup, or simply easy) is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded in 1998. It is headquartered in London, United Kingdom and privately owned by Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

Contents

Corporate affairs

An easyJet aircraft Airbus A320 G-UZLB of EasyJet 6.jpg
An easyJet aircraft
A easyBus minibus Arriva 0310 on easyBus.JPG
A easyBus minibus
easyHotel in Glasgow Easyhotel Glasgow - geograph.org.uk - 3907564.jpg
easyHotel in Glasgow

Overview

The company was established to expand the "easy" brand following the launch of EasyJet in 1995. The first use of "easy" after EasyJet was the EasyInternetcafé established in June 1999, [2] followed by EasyRentacar in 2000 which was renamed to EasyCar in 2000. [3] The group is registered in the Cayman Islands, [4] but operates from its office in Kensington, London.

easyGroup is the holding company controlling the "easy" family of brands. Through its wholly owned subsidiary EasyGroup IP Licensing Ltd, the company licences the Easy brand to other businesses. The easyGroup of companies have a complex structure that contains elements of a generic conglomerate and a keiretsu, and sometimes it simply licences its brand. easyGroup publishes brand guidelines for all Easy companies to follow. [5]

The easyGroup logo is known for its distinctive orange colour, Pantone 021. [6]

In 2002, Easyart.com (now King and McGaw) faced legal allegations from easyGroup over its use of the easy name, accusing Easyart of "passing off" on easyGroup's good name. [7] Before commencing legal action easyGroup's lawyers bombarded Easyart.com with threatening letters, despite having accepted £2,000 worth of advertising from the art company in its EasyInternet cafes not long after it launched. "This was a David and Goliath fight. It is a good day for smaller companies who stand up to bullying tactics from large corporations. We hope this gives hope to many other companies out there who are trading legitimately under the 'Easy' name and who have been threatened by this man", said Mr Matthews. [8] [9]

In 2005, easyGroup threatened legal action against a Welsh company which had been trading as EasyMobile since 2003, two years before the launch of easyGroup's easyMobile business which is not currently running. [10] In 2006, easyGroup dropped action against London businessman Karl Kahn after it emerged that his EasyPizza business predated easyGroup's business of the same name by several years. [11]

In 2008, a restaurant in Northampton agreed to stop calling itself "easyCurry" after threats of legal action from easyGroup. [12] As of 2009, differences had emerged at easyJet concerning travel-associated "extras" such as hotel bookings under the "easyJethotels" brand, and car hire under "easyJetcarhire". EasyGroup contended that it licensed the "easyJet" brand primarily for airline use, and that using the brand for hotel and car hire interfered with other EasyGroup businesses. [13]

In 2011, the Edmonton-based company Eezy Drive received a letter from easyGroup's lawyer Clarke Willmott, asking the owner Zeeshan Haniffa to stop using the name of his driving school, Ezee Drive Driving School, accusing him of "intellectual property infringement" and giving him seven days to destroy £1,000-worth of signs, leaflets and posters using the name, and hand over website domain names within two weeks. [14] [15] In 2012, a Northwich-based gym called Easy Exercise was challenged that it could not use the Easy name, with easyGroup citing "The easy name is synonymous with quality, value for money services and we have a duty to protect the public from its unauthorised use." [16]

In September 2018, easyGroup was taking legal action against Netflix over its comedy series Easy , claiming its use of the name breaches its European trademarks. Netflix said in a statement that "viewers can tell the difference between a show they watch and a plane they fly in". [17] In a ruling in 2021, EasyGroup Ltd v Easylife Ltd (formerly Easylife Group Ltd), and another [2021] EWHC 2150, Dr Jonathan Cornthwaite of the long-established legal firm Wedlake Bell said "This case was brought in attempt to prevent a retailing business called Easylife Ltd and its director from (among other things) using various brands incorporating the word 'easy'. However, the claimant not only lost its cases for trade mark infringement and passing off, but also suffered the revocation of various of its UK trade marks on the grounds of non-use." [18] [19]

In February 2022, easyGroup filed a lawsuit against the charity shopping website easyfundraising for "brand theft". [20] In April 2022, Stelios Haji-Ioannou was described as a "deeply unimpressive witness" who gave answers "that were defensive to the point of implausibility" by a High Court judge who oversaw a trademark disagreement involving EASYOFFICE, owned by a company called Nuclei. The judge, Mrs Justice Bacon, found in favour of Nuclei and said four easyGroup trademarks should be revoked on the "grounds of lack of genuine use". [21]

Subsidiaries and investments

Current properties

As of 2024, easyGroup lists over 200 easy branded business ventures and websites in a wide range of sectors, [22] including easyJet and easyBus.

Formerly owned companies

Amongst the ventures formerly owned by easyGroup which are still in operation under new full or partial ownership are hotel chain easyHotel, financial intermediary services brand easyMoney and African low-cost airline Fastjet.

Defunct ventures

Examples for former easyGroup brands and business ventures that since ceased operations for various reasons are easyInternetcafé, easyCinema, easyCoach, easyCruise (which ceased operations after it had been sold to Hellenic Seaways), [23] easyFoodstore [24] and easyPizza.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Go (airline)</span> Airline

Go Fly was the name of a British low-cost airline, founded by British Airways in 1998. It operated flights between London Stansted Airport and destinations in Europe. The airline was purchased from BA in a management buyout backed by the private equity firm 3i in 2001. In 2002, it was bought by its rival EasyJet and was merged into that airline's operations by 2003.

EasyJet plc is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airlines EasyJet UK, EasyJet Switzerland, and EasyJet Europe. EasyJet plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stelios Haji-Ioannou</span> Greek-Cypriot businessman (born 1967)

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is a Greek Cypriot entrepreneur. Born into a wealthy ship-owning family, he is best known for founding the low-cost airline easyJet and the Stelmar shipping line with start-up funds provided by his father, Loucas. easyJet's foundation in 1995 marked the beginning of a series of ventures marketed under the "easy" brand, managed by easyGroup and chaired by Haji-Ioannou.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hungry Jack's</span> Australian fast food franchise

Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd. is an Australian fast food franchise of the Burger King Corporation. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Competitive Foods Australia, a privately held company owned by Jack Cowin. Hungry Jack's owns and operates or sub-licenses all of the Burger King/Hungry Jack's restaurants in Australia.

easyCar is a British-based car brokerage firm. It was founded by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 2000 and formerly undertook car rental services. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of easyGroup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EasyInternetcafé</span>

EasyInternetcafé was a chain of Internet cafés and a unit of Stelios Haji-Ioannou's EasyGroup.

easyBus is a EasyGroup company offering shuttle services between airports and city centers. It was founded by entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 2003. It initially also offered intercity services within the United Kingdom.

EasyHotel is an international hotel chain, headquartered in London with 40 branches in ten European countries.

EasyCruise was a cruise line of Greek ferry operator Hellenic Seaways. It was sold to them in August 2009 for £9 million by Cypriot/British business man, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of easyGroup. They launched their first cruise ship EasyCruiseOne in 2005. Unlike other cruise lines, EasyCruise's business model offered passengers an no-frills vacation. EasyCruise ended operations in early 2010.

MT <i>Haven</i> Crude oil carrier that sank off the coast of Genoa, Italy in 1991

MT Haven, formerly Amoco Milford Haven, was a VLCC, leased to Troodos Shipping. In 1991, while loaded with 144,000 tonnes of crude oil, the ship exploded, caught fire and sank off the coast of Genoa, Italy, killing six Cypriot crew and flooding the Mediterranean with up to 50,000 tonnes of crude oil. It broke in two and sank after burning for three days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicken Licken (restaurant)</span> South African fast-food chain

Chicken Licken is a South African fast-food fried chicken restaurant chain. The company had a 5% share of South Africa's fast food market in 2010, tying with McDonald's. According to a case study published by the Henny Penny Corporation in 2011, Chicken Licken is the "largest non-American-owned fried chicken franchise in the world".

Andrew Harrison is a British businessman and former management consultant, currently the chairman of SEGRO. He previously served as the CEO of The RAC, easyJet, Whitbread and the Dunelm Group.

easyCinema was a cinema operation business in the easyGroup corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trademark</span> Trade identifier of products or services

A trademark is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies a product or service from a particular source and distinguishes it from others. A trademark owner can be an individual, business organization, or any legal entity. A trademark may be located on a package, a label, a voucher, or on the product itself. Trademarks used to identify services are sometimes called service marks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fastjet</span> Holding company

Fastjet Limited is an African airline that began flight operations in 2012. It is headquartered in Johannesburg and serves regional flights between South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

easyFoodstore was a discount supermarket owned and operated by the easyGroup in London, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King and McGaw</span> Art publisher and online relatailer

King & McGaw is an art publisher and online retailer. It supplies high quality art prints and products to museums, galleries and retail stores as well as art prints direct to consumers through its online retail site. Production is based in their 50,000 sq ft (4,600 m2) factory in Newhaven, Sussex.

Loucas Haji-Ioannou was a Greek-Cypriot shipping entrepreneur. He was one of the handful of Greek ship owners whose fleets dominated the global shipping industry for most of the 20th century. He was the father of the founder of the EasyJet airline, Stelios Haji-Ioannou. He was married, and at one time lived in Psychiko, Athens.

Polys Haji-Ioannou is a Cypriot billionaire, due mainly to his shareholding in EasyJet, the airline founded by his brother Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

E-Money Capital Ltd, trading as easyMoney, is a financial intermediary services brand in the United Kingdom established in 2001 as a division of Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou's easyGroup and since 2018 has been owned by Andrew De Candole.

References

  1. ↑ "EASYGROUP LTD overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". Companies House . 25 August 2000. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  2. ↑ "Witness Statement of Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou" (PDF). High Court of Justice Chancery Division. 16 March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  3. ↑ Brian Rogers, Nirmaylia Kumar (1 January 2000). "www.easyRentacar.com". IMD.
  4. ↑ "EasyJet case turns spotlight on Stelios". Financial Times . 26 June 2010. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  5. ↑ "EasyGroup Brand Manual" (PDF). EasyGroup. Smashing Magazine. June 2010. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  6. ↑ Walker, Duncan (11 August 2004). "Can you 'own' a colour?". BBC News. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  7. ↑ "How I Made It: Gyr King, founder of King & McGaw". The Sunday Times . 13 May 2012. Archived from the original on 29 May 2015.(subscription required)
  8. ↑ "Easyart.com to face Stelios in 'easy' court action". The Register . 12 November 2002.
  9. ↑ Gibson, Owen (9 May 2003). "EasyGroup drops action against Easyart.com". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  10. ↑ "Posh Richemont latest to sue Stelios". The Register. 18 November 2005. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  11. ↑ "Hard cheese for Stelios in EasyPizza case". The Register. 20 June 2006. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  12. ↑ "Easy name curry house climbs down". BBC. 23 July 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  13. ↑ Robertson, David (16 August 2008). "Stelios takes easyJet to court over branding". The Times . London. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
  14. ↑ "EasyJet firm accused of 'bullying' Edmonton driving instructor over Ezee Drive name". Enfield Independent. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  15. ↑ Osborne, Alistair (20 September 2011). "EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou 'bullying' driving instructor into closing 'Ezee' business". Daily Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  16. ↑ "Winnington company forced to rebrand after easyGroup High Court threat". Northwich Guardian. 7 March 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  17. ↑ correspondent, Rebecca Smithers Consumer affairs (30 September 2018). "Netflix sued by easyJet founder in trademark dispute". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  18. ↑ "Ruling on validity and infringement of easyGroup trade marks (High Court)". Thomson Reuters. 2 August 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  19. ↑ Cornthwaite, Jonathan (1 September 2021). "Suing for Infringement of a Descriptive Trademark Isn't Easy (Easygroup v Easylife)". Wedlake Bell. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  20. ↑ Yeomans, Jo (20 February 2022). "EasyGroup's Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou targets Easyfundraising over 'brand theft'". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  21. ↑ Farmer, Brian (13 April 2022). "Airline founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou 'deeply unimpressive witness' – judge". Evening Standard. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  22. ↑ easy.com - Explore easy retrieved 5 May 2024
  23. ↑ "EasyCruise Sold to Hellenic Seaways". Cruise Industry News. 18 August 2009. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  24. ↑ Marius, Callum (20 November 2022). "Hidden easyJet rudder makes it look like a plane is hidden in Wembley". MyLondon. Retrieved 16 September 2023.

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