Easy Mobiles

easyMobile. The easyMobile service was launched in the UK on 10 March 2005, in the Netherlands on 24 October 2005 and in Germany on 1 November 2005. These will soon be followed by launches in another 11 countries across Europe. The easyMobile mobile phone services are offered via our client’s website at the Internet domain name www.easymobile.com. This domain name was registered by our client on 26 September 2000.
Furthermore, our client has a number of other “EASY” businesses, including businesses under the marks EASYMONEY, EASYVALUE, EASYCINEMA, EASYBUS, EASYMUSIC, EASYPIZZA, EASYHOTEL, EASYJOBS, EASY4MEN, EASYCRUISE and more recently EASYWATCH.
Additionally, the web site “easy.com” was launched in November 2000, providing a portal on the internet for all the companies in the easyGroup, as well as offering a free, web-based, email service. Currently the web site easy.com receives approximately 180,000 visitors per week.
It is clear that the “EASY” brand is very well established as a high profile brand. There can be little doubt that a significant portion of the UK public is aware of the “EASY” brand. Our client has therefore acquired a substantial collective reputation and goodwill in the “EASY” family of marks in the UK in relation to low-cost Internet related consumer services, such that the mark “EASY” denotes the business of our clients and no other. This goodwill in the mark “EASY” extends to the mobile phone industry, and our client has built up substantial goodwill in the mark “EASYMOBILE”.
Each member of the easyGroup of companies advertises and cross-promotes the businesses of other members, in particular in press releases and advertising and by means of hypertext links between each other’s web sites. The easyGroup companies present a consistent group identity under and by reference to the “EASY” brand that comprises the distinctive combination of the word ‘easy’ with a word (the first letter of which is generally capitalised) so as to form one new word.

Our client has recently discovered that you are operating an Internet website at the Internet domain name www.easy-mobiles.co.uk. This domain was registered by you on 9 August 2005, some time after our client’s easyMobile service had been extensively publicised in the UK press and launched in the UK. There are a number of factors which will cause potential customers to draw a connection between our client’s services and the easy-mobiles.co.uk website. These include your use of the colour orange at the top of each page of your website, being the same colour orange as that used by easyGroup as part of its brand identity; the links to the easymobile.com website; and the various icons at the left hand side of your website titled “Stelios” and “EasyMobile.com”. We also note that you are using the marks “EASYMOBILE.COM” and “EASYMOBILE” as metatags on the easy-mobiles.co.uk website.
We note that you indicate on your home page and disclaimer that you are “not associated with or related to, or sponsored or endorsed by Easy Group”. Our client is nevertheless concerned that your use of the “EASYMOBILE” mark, particularly when accompanied by our client’s distinctive orange and white livery, is likely to confuse customers into believing that your website is connected with or authorised by

tags: , nominet, whois, domain dispute, easygroup, easymobile, reverse domain hijacking

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 25th, 2006 at 9:22 pm and is filed under Legal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.