The owner of the easyJet airline has sued indie band Easy Life for trademark misuse, citing the band’s use of “political slurs” such as “Fuck the Tories”, a copy of a complaint seen by Managing IP has revealed.
The band revealed it had been sued by easyGroup in a post on X, formerly Twitter, yesterday, October 2. EasyGroup owns easyJet as well as various other ‘easy’ brands.
“They’re forcing us to change our name or take up a costly legal battle which we could never afford. We’ve worked hard to establish our brand and I’m certain [that] in no way have we ever affected their business,” the post said.
“Although we find the whole situation hilarious, we are virtually powerless against such a massive corporation.”
Law firm Stephenson Harwood filed the claim on easyGroup’s behalf at the England and Wales High Court on September 6.
The claim centres on Easy Life posters and merchandise that used similar branding to easyJet’s orange logo.
One tour poster featured an easyJet plane featuring the band’s name instead of the airline’s logo.
The band also sold t-shirts with an Easy Life logo that resembled the airline’s branding, the claim added.
EasyGroup said the conduct of lead singer Murray Matravers and other band members risked damaging the easyJet brand through negative publicity.
According to the complaint, Matravers shouted “profanities and political slurs” during a performance, including “Fuck,”, “Fuck the Tories,” “You’re all crazy c**ts,” and “You’re all crazy motherfuckers”.
The complaint also cited reports that Matravers had to be carried off stage after drinking five shots of Scotch whisky during a show in Glasgow.
At a show in Oxford last month, meanwhile, one band member was said to have invited the crowd to “stay behind and take ketamine” with them, the complaint added.
In its social media post, Easy Life promised to keep its fans updated on the complaint.
“For those of you that bought gig tickets and ended up on a budget flight to Tenerife, I apologise, for the rest of you, thank you so much for your support.”
