UK firm EasyGroup takes legal action against Netflix for theft of word 'easy'
The owner of British-based company EasyGroup is taking legal action against American video streaming firm Netflix over its comedy series named “Easy”, claiming its use of the name breaches the UK company’s European trademarks.
The easyGroup is led by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, a British Cypriot billionaire businessman who also founded easyJet, an airline known to passengers for its “easy” and low-cost services.
Haji-Ioannou is specifically seeking a court injunction to prevent Netflix from airing Easy, a flagship series by Joe Swanberg, in Europe.
“This is a case of typically arrogant behavior by a very large American tech company who never bothered to check what legal rights other companies have outside the US,” he said.
A spokesman for easyGroup said its lawyers had launched a legal procedure against Netflix to prevent the tech company from streaming Easy, a comedy-drama anthology series, in Europe, where easyGroup enjoys massive income from its branding licenses.
“EasyGroup now owns more than 1,000 registered trademarks within the easy family of brands all over the world and takes its protection from unauthorized use very seriously,” the spokesman said.
Haji-Ioannou reiterated that his company legally owns the word easy as the European trademark and receives a steady income from many businesses who use the word in their brand, including easyHotel, easyBus, easyCar and others.
He said thousands of other trademarks who use the word as a prefix or use its phonetic verities also pay royalties to the easyGroup.
Netflix, worth currently around $166 billion in the American stock market, has reportedly said that it will stop using the word easy in the third season of its drama-comedy. However, it insists older series are planned to be aired in Europe.
“Viewers can tell the difference between a show they watch and a plane they fly in,” the company said in a Sunday statement.
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