easyGroup ship has sunk after failure to block UK TM ‘Easysail’

easyGroup, the UK parent company of easyJet, has not had it plan sailing this week.

easyGroup filed an opposition against a UK trade mark, arguing that it was confusingly similar to their ‘easy’ marks.

The mark in question was filed by French textiles company Porcher Industries, who have sought to protect ‘Easysail’ in classes 22, 24 and 35 which includes sails, technical fabric and retail services for the sail of boats.

The opposition filed by easyGroup was based on their seven existing trade marks which includes EU marks for ‘easyJet’, ‘easyTravel’ and ‘easyProperty’.

The key class indicated is class 35, which both ‘easyGroup’ and ‘easyProperty’ are registered in.

easyGroup stated in their opposition that Porcher’s trade mark would ride on the coattails of their trade mark portfolio and the registering of the mark will give the impression that Porcher Industries are somewhat connected with easyGroup.

The matter was heard by Alan James at the UK Intellectual Property Office tribunal who sided with Porcher Industries and ruled there was only a low to medium degree of similarity between the marks, also highlighting that the two companies services are not in competition.

James agreed with Porcher’s defence in that the word ‘easy’ did not have distinctive character therefore it could not distinguish one business from another.

As easyGroup’s opposition was based on the use of ‘easy’ and James ruled it has a low level of distinctive character, their opposition was refused and Porcher was successful in their application.

If you would like to protect your brand, contact The Trademarkroom team today.

By Ellis Sweetenham