easyGroup to Netflix: “Time to turn off easy”

After months of polite but unrewarding pressure, easyGroup has reluctantly decided to proceed with legal action against online media giant Netflix for trademark violation and passing off.

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s private investment company maintains that the use of the word “easy” for a Netflix comedy series, which has adopted an almost identical colouring and font style for its programme ident, is a blatant attempt at brand theft and must now be stopped by High Court injunction.

Sir Stelios said:
“I think this is a case of typically arrogant behaviour by a very large American tech company who never bothered to check what legal rights other companies have outside the US. When Joe Swanberg came up with the name ‘easy’ for his new TV series a couple of years ago they should have checked with their European lawyers before using it.


“We own the European trademark in the word ‘easy’ and another one thousand trademarks with easy as a prefix and we can’t allow people to use it now as a brand name, especially when they are doing it mostly with our colours and font. At least I am pleased that Netflix have said that they will stop at series three anyway. However we have to stop them from promoting the older series in Europe for online streaming.”