The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court is a quicker and more cost effective forum to resolve IP disputes. However, companies like Easy Group would go to High Court as they know costs would be crippling to most. Unfortunately you cannot just sit back and do nothing. You would actively need to defend in the event of a summons being issued.
But surely you could self-represent and continuously reply to each letter simply saying 'We dispute the claim' and just wall the attack with a copy-and-paste reply to all communications—we dispute the claims...until it reaches court.
Agree with Mark here the Easy Group I think (at the last count) have about ten companies currently with the Easy title so Mr jet Wash unfortunately would in my humble opinion be fighting a losing battle. As suggested make the most of the PR generated to date milk it for all you can get and change the name.
Just getting on the BBC website will have got him a bunch of new clients so the publicity has worked in his favour.
Not that difficult to do. Let EasyJet rack up the costs and then capitulate after you have got a whole load of publicity about how big business is shafting the little man.
www.telegraph.co.uk
And there you have it!
Paywalled!Unlike these people who clearly knew what they were doing:
Harrods accuses Essex café of 'copyright infringement' over sign
Harrods has told a roadside café in Essex to change its signs because they are too similar to the luxury store's branding.
bmmagazine.co.uk
Hats off to Supermac's for fighting for their rights. I wish consumers would shun the bullies, vote with their feet and go elsewhere.McDonald’s Loses ‘Big Mac’ Trademark Battle Against Irish Chain Supermac’s
The European Court of Justice rules against McDonald’s in a trademark dispute with Supermac’s, blocking the use of the 'Big Mac' name for chicken burgers and marking a significant victory for small businesses.
The big boys don't always win - this was last week
The ECJ, the continent’s second-highest court, sided with Supermac’s, which argued that McDonald’s had not made genuine use of the Big Mac name. Pat McDonagh, managing director of Supermac’s, hailed the decision as a “significant victory for small businesses” worldwide, emphasizing the triumph of David over Goliath.
McDonagh stated, “We knew when we took on this battle that it was a David versus Goliath scenario. The original objective of our application to cancel was to shine a light on the use of trademark bullying by this multinational to stifle competition.”
I'm not sure where you're coming from here?
Not going to happen. Customers of EasyJet and others don't give a monkey's about a bloke and his jet washing business.
You might like story of T-Mobile trademarking the colour magenta: "You're talking about the one of the three ink cartridges in every printer in the world. The idea that a company can trademark it and own it, just defied belief and I was in a state of disbelief."
Indeed. You simply should not be able to trademark the word "Easy" on it's own or in combination with other words. If you imitate the branding then that's a different matter.
