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EasyGroup Ltd (styled as easyGroup, or simply easy) is a British multinational
venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...
conglomerate founded in 1998. It is headquartered in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, United Kingdom and privately owned by
Stelios Haji-Ioannou Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou (; born 14 February 1967) is a Greek Cypriot entrepreneur. Born into a wealthy ship-owning family, he is best known for founding the low-cost airline easyJet and the Stelmar shipping line with start-up funds provided by ...
.


Corporate affairs


Overview

The company was established to expand the "easy" brand following the launch of
easyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airlin ...
in 1995. The first use of "easy" after easyJet was the
EasyInternetcafé EasyInternetcafé (styled as easyInternetcafé) was a chain of Internet cafés and a unit of Stelios Haji-Ioannou's EasyGroup. It was Europe's largest chain of Internet cafés and was the holder of the record for the world's largest Internet c ...
established in June 1999, followed by easyRentacar in 2000 which was renamed to
easyCar easyCar (formerly easyRentaCar) is a British-based car brokerage firm. It was founded by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 2000 and undertakes car rental services. It is a majority owned subsidiary of easyGroup. History In April 2000 easyGroup ...
in 2000. The group is registered in the
Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...
, but operates from its office in
Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. easyGroup is the
holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...
controlling the "easy" family of brands. Through its wholly owned subsidiary easyGroup IP Licensing Ltd, the company licences the easy brand to other businesses. The easyGroup of companies have a complex structure that contains elements of a generic conglomerate and a
keiretsu A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings that dominated the Japanese economy in the second half of the 20th century. In the legal sense, it is a type of business group that is in a loosely organized al ...
, and sometimes it simply licences its brand. easyGroup publishes brand guidelines for all easy companies to follow. The easyGroup logo is known for its distinctive orange colour,
Pantone Pantone LLC (stylized as PANTONE) is an American limited liability company headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, and best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color order system used in a variety of industries, notably gr ...
021.


Legal action

In 2002, Easyart.com (now
King and McGaw King & McGaw is a British art publisher and online retailer. It supplies high quality art prints and products to museums, galleries and retail stores as well as art prints direct to consumers through its online retail site. Production is based ...
) faced legal allegations from easyGroup over its use of the easy name, accusing Easyart of "passing off" on easyGroup's good name. Before commencing legal action easyGroup's lawyers bombarded Easyart.com with threatening letters, despite having accepted £2,000 worth of advertising from the art company in its EasyInternet cafes not long after it launched. "This was a David and Goliath fight. It is a good day for smaller companies who stand up to bullying tactics from large corporations. We hope this gives hope to many other companies out there who are trading legitimately under the 'Easy' name and who have been threatened by this man", said Mr Matthews. In 2005, easyGroup threatened legal action against a Welsh company which had been trading as EasyMobile since 2003, two years before the launch of easyGroup's easyMobile business which is not currently running. In 2006, easyGroup dropped action against London businessman Karl Kahn after it emerged that his EasyPizza business predated easyGroup's business of the same name by several years. In 2008, a restaurant in Northampton agreed to stop calling itself "easyCurry" after threats of legal action from easyGroup. As of 2009, differences had emerged at
easyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airlin ...
concerning travel-associated "extras" such as hotel bookings under the "easyJethotels" brand, and car hire under "easyJetcarhire". EasyGroup contended that it licensed the "easyJet" brand primarily for airline use, and that using the brand for hotel and car hire interfered with other EasyGroup businesses. In 2011, the Edmonton-based company Eezy Drive received a letter from easyGroup's lawyer Clarke Willmott, asking the owner Zeeshan Haniffa to stop using the name of his driving school, Ezee Drive Driving School, accusing him of "intellectual property infringement" and giving him seven days to destroy £1,000-worth of signs, leaflets and posters using the name, and hand over website domain names within two weeks. In 2012, a Northwich-based gym called Easy Exercise was challenged that it could not use the Easy name, with easyGroup citing "The easy name is synonymous with quality, value for money services and we have a duty to protect the public from its unauthorised use." In September 2018, easyGroup was taking legal action against
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
over its comedy series '' Easy'', claiming its use of the name breaches its European trademarks. Netflix said in a statement that "viewers can tell the difference between a show they watch and a plane they fly in". In a ruling in 2021, ''EasyGroup Ltd v Easylife Ltd'' (formerly Easylife Group Ltd), and another
021 069 is: * in Brazil, the telephone area code for the city of Rio de Janeiro and surrounding cities (Greater Rio de Janeiro) * in China, the telephone area code for the city of Shanghai. * in Indonesia, the area code for the city of Jakarta and su ...
EWHC 2150, Dr Jonathan Cornthwaite of the long-established legal firm Wedlake Bell said "This case was brought in attempt to prevent a retailing business called Easylife Ltd and its director from (among other things) using various brands incorporating the word 'easy'. However, the claimant not only lost its cases for trade mark infringement and passing off, but also suffered the revocation of various of its UK trade marks on the grounds of non-use." In February 2022, easyGroup filed a lawsuit against the charity shopping website easyfundraising for "brand theft". In April 2022,
Stelios Haji-Ioannou Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou (; born 14 February 1967) is a Greek Cypriot entrepreneur. Born into a wealthy ship-owning family, he is best known for founding the low-cost airline easyJet and the Stelmar shipping line with start-up funds provided by ...
was described as a "deeply unimpressive witness" who gave answers "that were defensive to the point of implausibility" by a High Court judge who oversaw a trademark disagreement involving EASYOFFICE, owned by a company called Nuclei. The judge, Mrs Justice Bacon, found in favour of Nuclei and said four easyGroup trademarks should be revoked on the "grounds of lack of genuine use". In September 2024, a judgement in the
High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...
by The Honourable Mr Justice Fancourt ruled that Easyfundraising successfully defended against easyGroup's injunction to stop trading under 'easyfundraising', stating "….the average consumer would be unlikely to be confused merely on account of use of the word “easy”, even if the services could be regarded as having some degree of similarity."


Subsidiaries and investments


Current properties

As of 2024, easyGroup lists over 200 ''easy'' branded business ventures and websites in a wide range of sectors, including
easyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airlin ...
and
easyBus easyBus is a EasyGroup company offering shuttle services between airports and city centers. It was founded by entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 2003. It initially also offered intercity services within the United Kingdom. History Foundation ...
.


Formerly owned companies

Amongst the ventures formerly owned by easyGroup which are still in operation under new full or partial ownership are hotel chain easyHotel, financial intermediary services brand
easyMoney E-Money Capital Ltd, trading as easyMoney, is a financial intermediary services brand in the United Kingdom established in 2001 as a division of Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou's easyGroup and since 2018 has been owned by Andrew De Candole. History ...
and African low-cost airline
Fastjet Fastjet Limited is an African airline that began flight operations in 2012. It is headquartered in Johannesburg and serves regional flights between South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. History Initial proposals In June 2012, to start ope ...
.


Defunct ventures

Examples for former easyGroup brands and business ventures that since ceased operations for various reasons are
easyInternetcafé EasyInternetcafé (styled as easyInternetcafé) was a chain of Internet cafés and a unit of Stelios Haji-Ioannou's EasyGroup. It was Europe's largest chain of Internet cafés and was the holder of the record for the world's largest Internet c ...
, easyCinema, easyCoach, easyCruise (which ceased operations after it had been sold to Hellenic Seaways), easyFoodstore and easyPizza.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Easygroup EasyGroup British companies established in 1998 Holding companies established in 1998 Holding companies of the United Kingdom Conglomerate companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in London