Indie band Easy Life hit back at EasyJet founder’s claims one of his companies had the name first – saying it came up with the brand SEVEN YEARS before their trademark
- The Leicester band’s statement ends with: ‘Sorry, who is the brand thief here?’
Indie band Easy Life has hit back at easyGroup’s claims it had the name first, as they insist they came up with the brand seven years before the airline’s trademark.
The Leicester five-piece took to social media to blast the easyJet airline spin-off and share a timeline of their music career which they say began in 2015. They ended their most recent statement with: ‘Sorry, who is the brand thief here?’
EasyGroup has filed court documents alleging the band is exploiting its ‘valuable reputation’ to sell merchandise to its fans.
The band had previously warned that they are having to choose between changing their name or taking on an unaffordable legal battle.
Founder of easyJet Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, told the BBC they could not allow their easy brand to be used ‘for nothing’.
UK indie band Easy Life have released a statement in reaction to news that they are being sued by easyJet for trademark infringement and reputational damage
The Leicester five-piece shared a timeline of their music career since 2015 ending with the airline’s parent company easyGroup trademarking the name ‘easyLife’ seven years later
It begins noting that the band played their first gig in 2015, released their first single in 2017, signed a record deal in 2018, and produced their debut album Life’s A Beach in 2021 – all before ‘easyLife’ was trademarked in August 2022.
READ MORE: Court documents reveal easyJet owner is suing indie band Easy Life for ‘damaging’ their reputation after lead singer shouted ‘f*** the Tories’ at festival
In suggesting easyGroup are a ‘brand thief’, the band, led by frontman Murray Matravers, are responding to an earlier statement on the corporation’s website which said: ‘We have a long established record of legally stopping thieves from using our brands and I am confident we will stop Mr Matravers.’
The same statement linked court documents detailing easyGroup’s precise claims, including pictures of the band’s previous merchandise, which they allege exploits the airline’s ‘valuable reputation.’
Easy Life produced a poster for their Life’s A Beach tour in 2021 and 2022 which showed an image of a plane with easyJet’s colours, as well as selling tour t-shirts with a logo similar to the airline’s.
‘Substantial damages’ are being sought by easyGroup, although they cannot work out the total cost.
The particulars of the claim also reveal that easyGroup allege to have been dealt reputational damage by the band’s 2020 single Who Gives A F***.
EasyGroup alleges that merchandise for the band, including this poster showing a plane with similar colours to easyJet, is trademark infringement
Court documents allege the Leicester-based band used easyGroup’s brand to sell merchandise
Lawyers have submitted a picture of an Easy Life t-shirt that bears a logo similar to easyGroup in the back
Reputational damage is also said to have been caused by Mr Matravers’ on stage antics, including reportedly shouting ‘f*** the Tories’ at TRNSMT Festival 2022, and being ‘carried offstage by bandmates’ after ‘getting so drunk’ at a gig at Glasgow’s O2 Academy in February this year.
However, Easy Life rubbished the claims in a seperate statement on Monday and jokingly apologised to fans who had ‘bought gig tickets and ended up on a budget flight to Tenerife’.
They said they had worked hard to establish their brand and stressed their belief that they have never affected easyGroup’s business.
A spokesperson for easyGroup told the BBC: ‘Stelios [Haji-Ioannou] and easyGroup founded and now own the right to the easy brand name.’
‘We cannot allow others to simply use it free, gratis and for nothing. That would be unfair,’ they added.
EasyGroup has been contacted for comment, but is yet to respond.
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