EasyJet tycoon loses copyright battle against charity-fundraising site
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the tycoon behind easyGroup, last year filed a lawsuit against Easyfundraising, accusing the Staffordshire-based company of copyright infringement.
A High Court judge ruled in favour of the fundraising platform, but Sir Stelios mounted an appeal, arguing there were a 'number of contradictions' in the judgment.
But in a ruling last week, the UK Appeals Court upheld the decision and sided with Easyfundraising.
In their judgment, Lord Justice Coulson, Lord Justice Arnold and Lord Justice Zacaroli said: 'The presence of the word 'easy' itself is not sufficient to lead an average consumer to think that Easyfundraising or easysearch must be connected with easyLife.'
They ruled it was unlikely that the similarity in names would confuse consumers, adding: 'Unsurprisingly, there was no evidence of any confusion by advertisers, despite easyfundraising having been in operation since 2005.'
Easy lawsuits
The decision marks an embarrassing setback for Sir Stelios, who has gained notoriety for his aggressive tactics in defending trademarks.
In 2023, the British pop group Easy Life were forced to change their name after easyGroup, which owns the brand rights to online retailer Easylife, filed a copyright infringement claim.
EasyGroup described the band as a 'brand thief', despite them forming seven years before the conglomerate bought the retailer's brand name.
Easy Life said they were unable to defend the lawsuit because of the financial burden and have now changed their name to Hard Life.
Sir Stelios founded easyJet in 1995 and grew it into one of Europe's largest low-cost airlines. He stepped down from the board in 2010 following a clash over the future direction of the company, but his family still retains a 15pc stake.
The Greek-Cypriot billionaire also licenses out the 'easy' brand name through easyGroup to a host of other ventures including easyHotel, easyCar and easyBus.
Sir Stelios, who created the 'easy' family of brands in 1994 and owns all the intellectual property rights through easyGroup, has pursued a number of other companies on copyright grounds.
Easyfundraising, which was founded in 2005, is a cashback website that allows customers to donate part of what they spend online shopping to a charity of their choice. The company says it has raised more than £60m for charities and good causes across the UK.
Following last year's High Court ruling, Sir Stelios accused Easyfundraising, which is backed by private equity firm Palatine, of falsely marketing itself as a charity.
James Moir, chief executive of Easyfundraising, has said the platform had never claimed to be a charity, describing it instead as a 'technology-for-good company'.
He added: 'Our decision to not back down against easyGroup's ridiculous claims and bully-boy tactics was vindicated last year and was vindicated again today.
'This case has already taken up many months of management and business time that could have been far better spent on our core business of helping charities and good causes raise as much money as possible.
'We have never claimed to be part of easyGroup, and we hope that this judgement gives heart to others being sued by easyGroup that they can see them in court – and win.'
EasyGroup said it was considering whether the case could be referred to the Supreme Court and was planning separate legal action in Ireland over the use of the Easyfundraising name in the EU.
A spokesman said the company was also pursuing a complaint with the UK Charity Commission, adding: 'They are casino capitalists making a killing with their investment.'
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