Oh dear, flamboyant Stelios, head-honcho at the “easy” empire, has landed himself in a bit of doo-doo with Orange. Only last week Stelios announced his new easyMobile service with T-Mobile. Stelios, who’s always keen on protecting his “easy” brand never figured that he may upset a certain “other” network.
What’s the problem you may ask ? Hmm.. let’s think.. This is Stelios..
The picture above is from when he launched his new “easyPizza” idea. You get the idea, cheap pizza, bright Orange easyPizza logo behind. Here’s a picture of his most famous brand – easyJet..
.. a bright Orange tail, Orange uniforms, Orange this, Orange that… No ? Still don’t know where I’m heading with this news story ? Well, here’s one of his “easyCruise” ships…
Bright Orange ship ?
You must have it by now. Yes, network operator Orange have slapped Stelios with a big fat law suit for using the Orange colour. Stelios and his entire brand is and always has been linked to the colour Orange. He even paints his cinemas bright Orange – yes, the whole outside of the frigger is bright orange. However, network operator Orange see this entry into the mobile market as an attempt to “an attempt to pass itself off as Orange”, which would constitute a trademark infringement. The two companies, who are both very successful in their own right, had been talking about this up-coming problem before Stelios launched easyMobile, but talks broke down after Orange bosses failed to get assurance from easy not to use the colour orange.
So what do the shy, retiring types at easyGroup have to say for themselves? Well… Stelios himself stepped up and said..
“I will see them in court. It is our right to use our own corporate colour for which we have become famous during the last 10 years. We have nothing to be afraid of in this court case. They are clearly worried about the competition. I believe their trademarks are invalid and we will attack them in court. Their suggestion that we are trying to “pass off” as them is laughable. We want everyone to know that easyMobile is part of the easyGroup, founded by me as www.easyMobile.com clearly states. We will add a disclaimer on the website on Monday that ‘easyMobile is not connected to Orange Personal Communications Ltd, the company owned by France Telecom, with whom we are in dispute over our right to use the colour orange, an essential part of our iconic brand.’ Not only we will not be “passing off” as them but also we want everyone to know that they are our enemy.”
To be honest, this case could go either way. The colour orange is a very strong link and brand identity for Stelios, but it is equally so for Orange.. so .. who wins ?
Source – Silicon.com
easyGroup statement – Click here.