EasyJet takes charity fundraising website to court and loses

EasyJet lost a legal trademark battle against a fundraising website in the UK, after arguing that the Easyfundraising company´s name could cause poor reputation for EasyJet.

EasyJet starts a legal battle against charity website Easyfundraising 

Set up in 1998 by the Greek entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ionnou, EasyGroup has as of May 2024 listed more than 200 easy+ branded businesses, including easyJet, easyBus, and easyHotel, becoming one of the most popular travel companies in the market. EasyGroup has now claimed that when Easyfundraising company from the UK was launched in 2005, and when they set up the easysearch brand in 2007, the EasyJet´s trademarks were infringed and the company´s reputation was put at risk.

EasyGroup alleged that the fundraising website´s “poor reputation” would have a negative impact on their brand if wrongly associated with the easy+ brand.

Charity website Easyfundraising faces EasyJet in a legal battle

“Essentially, this was a trademark case over the use of the word ´easy´ in our name, even though Easyfundraising has existed for nearly 20 years,” said Easyfundraising´s chief executive James Moir. Based in Lichfield, Staffordshire, the company focuses on helping charities make money for good causes; Moir emphasised that the trademark case had taken up months of management time at his company, which could´ve been spent helping charities.

He also noted that his company had never claimed to be part of EasyGroup as there would be no reputational benefit for it to do so; “It is telling that EasyGroup were not able to produce a single piece of evidence showing any customer confusion has ever existed.” Justice Fancourt, who conducted the high court ruling also emphasised that “many of the easyGroup licensees, including easyJet itself, advertised on Easyfundraising between 2010 and 2022, generating around  €1,48 million of sales.”

EasyJet loses a legal battle against charity webssite Easyfundraising 

Fancourt issued an 81-page ruling that as “there is no identity or similarity of services provided by Easyfundraising and the services specified, the claimant´s claim of infringement as at 2005 and 2007 must fail.” The defendants successfully proved that there was no evidence to suggest a customer would confuse the two brands; Fancourt noted;  “it is unlikely that any but a few would make the association and be confused.” 

He added; “Users of Easyfundraising´s advertising services would be least likely to be confused, as they were relatively sophisticated and careful business persons, or professionals, and as such are most unlikely to consider that Easyfundraising or Easysearch is an ´easy+´ brand or connected in some way with easyGroup.” 

Fancourt also documented Easyfundraising´s good reputation, arguing that “the large of retailers that advertise with Easyfundraising and have done so for years, including well-known and reputable high street brands such as Marks & Spencer and John Lewis, demonstrate that retailers do not share the claimant´s view that Easyfundraising has a poor reputation.”