Billionaire founder of budget airline easyJet sues Netflix in trademark dispute over comedy series ‘Easy’
US streaming service’s comedy targeted in Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s latest crackdown on ‘brand thieves’
The billionaire businessman and easyJet founder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, is taking legal action against Netflix over its comedy series Easy, claiming its use of the name breaches his company’s European trademarks.
In the latest crackdown on what he claims are growing numbers of “brand thieves” seeking to “piggyback” off his easyGroup business, Haji-Ioannou is seeking a High Court injunction to prevent the US$166 billion US streaming company from using the programme name in Europe.
Joe Swanberg’s comedy-drama anthology series is billed as an “eclectic, star-studded anthology [which] follows diverse Chicagoans fumbling through the modern maze of love, sex, technology and culture”.
Launched on Netflix in September 2016 and due for its third and final season in 2019, its ensemble cast includes Orlando Bloom and Emily Ratajkowski.
EasyGroup has a strict policy of taking legal action to protect its licensees, including easyJet, the low-cost airline, and which use its striking orange branding.
A spokesman for easyGroup said it would start legal proceedings at the beginning of the week, confirming a story first reported by The Sunday Times.