Easy Life have today (October 10) taken to social media to say that they’re having to surrender their band name following a “David and Goliath” legal battle with EasyGroup.
Earlier this week, the band revealed that they were being sued by the conglomerate and claimed the company was “forcing” them to change their name or they risked facing a costly legal battle.
Easygroup are the Cayman Islands-registered company owned by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou built to expand the “easy” brand from EasyJet’s airlines into the fields of hotels, supermarkets, financial services and more – licensing out the “easy” name.
Now, in a new post on the website, the band have updated fans to say that despite “having explored literally every possible angle,” the band have “realised that there are no good options available” and that they have to subsequently “change our name to move forward.”
In the statement, the band wrote: “Sadly, it seems that justice is only available to those who can afford it. We simply don’t have the funds to access a fair trial in the high court. Not to mention the fact that this would likely rattle on through to 2025, and with this hanging over us we wouldn’t be able to release any music in the meantime. Our careers, and indeed our lives, would be on hold.
“We’re not a nameless company; as you’ve seen, it’s our own personal names on the paperwork. This means that should we lose, the costs will be recouped from us personally. They could take everything; material possessions, our livelihoods, our homes.”
The band went on to describe the “turmoil” the situation had caused them but that they’d “found solace in the outpourings of love and support” from their fans.
Sadly, we have realised that there are no good options available to us in the situation we find ourselves in. We have no power to fight this. I’ve written a more detailed letter which I’ll post on our site now that explains the legal side of what’s going on a bit more
— easy life (@easylife) October 10, 2023
but essentially it’s David vs Goliath and our British legal system favours Goliath. Friday is to be our last day as easy life. Best believe we want to go out in style.
easy life, for the very last time. Tickets on sale now – only £15 each so come join us for a proper farewell.
— easy life (@easylife) October 10, 2023
https://t.co/AJ2iQ8gTI3 pic.twitter.com/aD1Z8xP3kf
— easy life (@easylife) October 10, 2023
This Friday (October 13), will be the final day the band will be using the name. They have organised some “farewell parties” for fans. The first will take place on Thursday October 12 at Leicester Academy, with the second following at Koko on Friday October 13. You can get tickets for the events here.
They added: “Even though we aren’t able to fight this, we now need to go into a period of legal mediation with EasyGroup about what happens next. We’re really hoping they might be gracious about this, and we are hopeful for the opportunity to finally put out the song we know you’ve been wanting for years. Still not as we’d imagined, but it’s a song for you guys and we want you to have it.
“It’s with the deepest sadness that I confirm once again, that we, as easy life, will be playing our final shows this week. Perhaps our case will help provoke a dialogue around legal reform and justice being available to all, however I fear such conversations will fall on deaf ears. Who knows what will happen next, every storm runs out of rain eventually.”
EasyGroup have not yet responded to the band’s latest statement. However, in response to the band’s original claim, an EasyGroup spokesperson told NME earlier this week: “Stelios and easyGroup founded and (now) own the right to the easy brand name.
“Other companies (including easyLife) pay annual royalties for its use as part of their business strategy. We cannot allow unauthorised third parties to simply use it free, gratis and for nothing. That would be very unfair.”
The company said in a separate statement: “With reference to the brand thief Mr Matravers and his fellow band members who have decided to use our brand, easyLife, without permission, we have a long established record of legally stopping thieves from using our brands and I am confident we will stop Mr Matravers.”
The band refuted the suggestion that they were “brand thieves” and argued that they had been using their name a long time before the conglomerate licensed the name of the online retailer EasyLife, for which it receives an annual fee. The owner of EasyGroup has no financial interest in the business.
Earlier this week, the band’s MP, Harriet Harman made a plea to EasyGroup asking them to retract their threat of legal action against the band.
This isn’t the first time EasyGroup have sued other businesses for using names containing the word ‘easy’. In 2018, the company took legal action against Netflix over its comedy series Easy, claiming its use of the name breached its European trademarks.
In response, Netflix said in a statement that “viewers can tell the difference between a show they watch and a plane they fly in.” In 2008, the Northampton-based restaurant easyCurry also changed its name after being threatened with legal action.
The NME Award-winning band EasyLife have released two acclaimed albums – 2022’s ‘Maybe In Another Life‘ and 2021 debut ‘Life’s A Beach‘. They have been active since 2017.
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