Credit: Jack Brigland

Trademark lawyer discusses Easy Life’s “David v Goliath” legal battle against Easy Jet’s owner

Wed 11 October 2023 16:41, UK

After Easy Life announced they were reluctantly surrendering their band name amid a legal dispute with Easy Jet’s owners easyGroup, a leading trademark lawyer has likened the case to “David v Goliath” to Far Out.

On October 10th, the indie band backed down due to financial pressures and announced they would play their final shows as Easy Life at Leicester’s O2 Academy and London’s KOKO before retiring the moniker. In a message, they explained how going to court would have cost them money they don’t have and would have also prevented them from releasing any music until potentially 2025.

Last week, easyGroup detailed their reasons for the case in a statement provided to Far Out: “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.”

They continued: “The Claimant owns, runs and/or licences numerous brands of a large number of enterprises in a broad range of businesses, all of which trade under a name comprising of the word ‘easy’ followed by a word or words appropriate to their field of operation. Those businesses are referred to herein as ‘the Easy Family’. For the reasons set out further below, the trade of those businesses has led to the Claimant owning the Easy Family of Marks Reputation. For reasons of proportionality, not all businesses said to comprise the Easy Family are particularised herein.”

Joel Barry, a partner in trademark and intellectual property law firm Brandsmiths, whose client list includes Microsoft, Manchester United and BMW, has now spoken exclusively with Far Out about the case. Barry called easyGroup’s claim “arguable – at best” and revealed it’s “not one I would really want to take to court.”

He added: “It’s definitely David v Goliath, and that is likely part of the strategy. You don’t need to worry about whether you will win in court if the other side is going to fold.”

Although Easy Life and easyGroup operate in two distinctly different fields, Barry says it “depends on which side of the fence you are on” regarding whether the band’s name could negatively impact the brand’s image.

The Brandsmiths partner continued: “I think common sense would say it doesn’t. If you’re easyGroup you are going to say that if people think Easy Life is licensed then easyGroup is losing that licence fee.”

Despite the public backlash from music fans, easyGroup didn’t back down, and Barry believes they’ll be “pleased with the PR” they’ve received from this episode “as it sends a message to others using ‘easy’ in their branding.”

While this could set a worrying precedent for other bands, Barry doesn’t foresee it becoming a widespread problem across the music industry, noting, “The issue has always been there but generally, there’s no confusion or real harm.”

He also stated: “These sorts of things happen every day in my world. When I say POLO, do you think car, t-shirts, sweeties or a sport? This case is a little different because easyGroup want a high level of exclusivity in relation to easy formative trademarks, which is hard to do with a highly descriptive word.”

Barry also revealed that Brandsmiths reached out to Easy Life on Instagram as they have fans of the band working at the company and offered to help for free but didn’t hear back.

Easy Life are set to play their final show under that guise on October 13th at KOKO in Camden.