March 2018. EasyGroup, best known for its EasyJet airliner, is having a tricky time. We recently reported that it had failed to halt the registration of two other ‘easy’ trademarks in the UK. Things appear to be going wrong for it again in Europe, now that EasyGroup’s opposition to the registration of the word Easydentaly as a trademark has also hit the buffers.

Simple

According to a decision on 8 March by the Opposition division of the European Trademark Office EUIPO, the term ‘easy’ is merely another word for ‘simple’, making it an extremely weak distinguishing element with a low level of protection. Easydentaly, which was registered as a trademark for dental products and services, therefore doesn’t infringe EasyGroup’s ‘easy’ trademarks, EUIPO concluded.

No reputation

In a bid to gain slightly more protection for its ‘easy’ trademarks, EasyGroup had invoked the acquired distinctiveness and reputation of its brands. However, the attempt misfired, with EUIPO ruling that EasyGroup hadn’t provided enough evidence to substantiate the reputation of the easy brands. This is highly unlikely to be the last case involving an ‘easy’ trademark, though. We’ll keep you posted.

Bas Kist