British music producer Easyfun latest target in Easygroup’s trademark war
The British music producer Easyfun has become the latest target in Easygroup’s aggressive trademark war over the use of the word “easy” by companies or celebrities.
Easyfun, who’s real name is Finn Keane, most recently the produced Charli XCX’s ‘Speed Drive’ – the soundtrack of the 2023 film Barbie – and is signed with London record label Personal Computer Music.
The trademark claim was filed earlier this month against Keane, the record label and fellow music producer Alexander Cook, calling for Keane to change his producer name.
In a statement to its shareholders, Easygroup argued that “Keane has deliberately chosen to mimic Easygroup’s famous branding to create instant brand recognition for his DJing business.”
The group, which is led by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has accused Keane of “deliberate misappropriation” of Easygroup’s trademark adding that it included “well-known orange styling.”
The company also added that it was “seriously concerned” by the choice by Keane “to depict as part of album artwork an aircraft bearing the famous Easygroup livery in distress in the aftermath of a serious aircrash”. The company was referring to his 2015 Deep Trouble EP cover that depicts a plane that crash landed into the water, with ‘Easyfun’ noted on the side. The album cover has since been updated on Spotify.
This claim comes not long after it filed a lawsuit against Leicestershire band Easy Life. In a punchy statement last month, boss Haji-Ioannou targeted frontman Murray Matravers by saying he “intentionally used Easygroup’s well known stylisation and images of Easyjet planes in his marketing”.
The band issued a public statement at the time of the claim hitting back saying it was “forcing us to change our name or take up a costly legal battle which we could never afford”. Not long after, The Guardian reported that the band would not fight against the legal action and had opted to change their name.
Since 2015, the company has launched over 50 similar trademark legal actions. According to the court’s filing system for England and Wales, the group filed 14 trademark lawsuits this year so far, a 600 per cent increase on the two claims filed in 2022.
Easygroup said it has a £4m legal budget to fund these types of actions each year, using City law firm Stephenson Harwood to execute its claims.
PC Music was contacted for comment on itself and its stars, Keane and Cook.