• Home
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Awards
  • Privacy Policy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS
TheDomains.com

Uk Company EasyGroup Seems To Think It Own The Word “Easy” As Its Claims EasyDate Is Infringing On Their Mark

September 24, 2010 by Michael Berkens

According to several news sources, a UK company, EasyGroup has notified another public UK company, EasyDate that it is infringing on its intellectual property

Easy Group which owns intellectual property rights for the family of trade marks used by a group of companies which includes easyJet, easyHotel, easyCar, easyBus, easyJobs, easyVan, easyOffice and easy.com.

easyGroup says they also owns a community trade mark covering information relating to entertainment and personal and social services.

“Easydate said that they have used that name as the company’s name “and the business has used this name in good faith for over five years without intervention or objection from any party, including easyGroup”

“Easydate is taking unfair advantage of the strong reputation of my easy brand in order to obtain an undeserved commercial advantage.  Unless EasyDate stops using its brand and domain name, I will take further action to protect the easy name,” said Group Chairman Stelios Haji-Ioannou said in a statement.

Easydate owns a number of dating websites: including Cupid.com,  datetheuk.com, datingforparents.com.

This seems to now be a trend where large corporations are seeking to control a dictionary word for all purposes and follows in the wake of Facebook trying to take ownership of the word Book.

Filed Under: Legal

About Michael Berkens

Michael Berkens, Esq. is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheDomains.com. Michael is also the co-founder of Worldwide Media Inc. which sold around 70K domain to Godaddy.com in December 2015 and now owns around 8K domain names . Michael was also one of the 5 Judges selected for the the Verisign 30th Anniversary .Com contest.

« eBook.com Hits The Auction Block With 4.5 Million Unique Visitors A Year
Kentucky Supreme Court Says Trade Groups Still Do Not Have Standing To Contest Domain Name Seizures »

Comments

  1. Chris says

    September 24, 2010 at 11:42 am

    Another egregious example of an organisation trying to control generic space…..When will it stop??

    Seems to me, EasyDate may have just as strong a claim to the term ‘Easy’ as EasyGroup…After all, EasyDate is using the term – in its own market niche – in every bit as good faith a manner as EasyGroup uses the term in its market niches.

    I’d call it a draw if I were them – and, leave well alone.

  2. Einstein says

    September 24, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    Stelios, I have one word for you: Easy on lawsuits, and of course on food.

  3. TheBigLieSociety says

    September 24, 2010 at 12:53 pm

    “Another egregious example of an organisation trying to control generic space…..When will it stop??”

    When ARTIFICIAL SCARCITY is removed ?

  4. Meyer says

    September 24, 2010 at 1:41 pm

    If I recall correctly, the EasyGroup did the same thing a few years ago.

  5. Gazzip says

    September 24, 2010 at 2:49 pm

    “If I recall correctly, the EasyGroup did the same thing a few years ago.”

    Easy-Jet.com
    http://www.out-law.com/page-945

    A few more they went after were, easypeazy.com 🙂 …it’s true, easygetaway.com, easyescapes.com.

    Looks like they did’nt get any of them.

  6. Acro says

    September 24, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    EasyJet and the Easy Group are notorious for bullying users of “easy” domains for years. I’m glad my name isn’t Stelios – a very common Greek name – or the CEO would go after me: http://www.stelios.com 😛

  7. BrianWick says

    September 24, 2010 at 3:40 pm

    Sounds like another facebook vs. teachbook in another thread mike has from early september
    BTW = Who owns easybook.com or easyface.com ?

    Here is what the founder of teachbook thinks about monoplies like easy.com and facebook.com thinking they own and control the Internet:
    http://teachbook.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73&Itemid=124

  8. Paul says

    September 24, 2010 at 4:01 pm

    Funny that EasyGroup don’t attack Orange (a phone company) for using ‘their’ color (I may be mistaken – I left years ago to avoid this sort of nonsense).

  9. ::: BreakingNewsBlog.us ::: says

    September 24, 2010 at 8:49 pm

    maybe, someday we must pay a royalty to to someone everytime we want to speak or write… 😐

  10. Steroids UK says

    September 25, 2010 at 8:06 am

    Stellios was one of teh good guys i hope these udrps are not his idea.

  11. Leo says

    September 26, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    Sir Stelios has a habit of threatened legal action then backing down because he knows he can’t win. ‘easy’ is too common a word to trademark and companies that don’t use the bright orange livery have been free to carry on.

  12. Meyer says

    October 11, 2010 at 11:30 am

    I need a reality check.

    EasyGroup is notorious for over-reaching in the protection of
    their brand.

    Why are THEY letting EasyUK.com drop today?
    They have owned it since 1999.

  13. Dimitrios Chatzikos says

    February 19, 2011 at 8:37 am

    I am the latest victim of their bulling tactics.
    I own the domain http://www.easy-salon.com and i am selling a salon management software for business, that i have developed with hard work.
    My turnover form the web site is £200 per month.
    I received a thread letter from easygroup’s solisitors that they will take me to court and ask damages if i dont hand over all my hard work to them.
    Unfortunatelly i did not had any other option as my monthly income is £500 and i cannot afford legal cost, to hand over and rename my product to unisalons.

    After i met all their demants now they asking for me to pay a ‘contribution’ to their cost of £750 that i do not have.

    Any help out there???????

  14. Richard G M Taylor says

    January 26, 2016 at 8:46 am

    Hey Dimitrios, It’s a while ago now, but what was the outcome? I notice you changed your domain name, I’m not sure if that was necessary. I notice that Easy Date is still up and running…


Recent Articles

  • Sedo weekly domain name sales led by PLP.com
  • Global Domain Report from InternetX and Sedo is a good read
  • A no holds barred interview with Rick Schwartz

Recent Comments

  • Ramahn on A no holds barred interview with Rick Schwartz
  • Ramahn on A no holds barred interview with Rick Schwartz
  • Winston on Global Domain Report from InternetX and Sedo is a good read
  • brian wick on Global Domain Report from InternetX and Sedo is a good read
  • Ulysses on LiteBit.com sold for $50,000 buyer lost a UDRP in 2019

Polls

How Many .Web Domains Will Be Registered 1 Year After Launch

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
  • Polls Archive

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Categories

Archives

domain name news

Copyright ©2019 TheDomains.com — Published by Worldwide Media, Inc. — Site by Nuts and Bolts Media