A further victory for brand protection was delivered in the High Court in London on the 22nd July after Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s easyGroup was granted an injunction preventing a French Caribbean travel agent, Stephane Roche from using the “easyway” brand to promote his tourist services to customers in the UK.
The defendant, Stephane Roche will also have to pay legal costs to easyGroup of around £75k plus damages (based on a share of his profits and or his revenues for the last seven years) for using the easy brand without easyGroup’s permission. The quantum of the damages will be assessed later in the legal process. However, the court ordered that his website be subject to “geo-blocking” so it is not visible in the UK and he is also prohibited from offering his services to UK travel agents, customers with a .co.uk email address or any other customers that make it clear at any point during the transaction that they are located within the UK.