easyGroup v Easy Live (Services) No 2 [2024] EWHC 2282 (Ch)
This was the trial of the second claim for trade mark infringement brought by easyGroup against the Defendants, who have been operating an online auction bidding platform and providing back-office software for use in the auctioneering trade in the UK under the name Easy Live Auction since 2010. In the first action, Sir Anthony Mann dismissed the infringement claim against the Easy Live Auction logos used by the Defendants since before the issue of the claim form. The Judge did, however, hold that the Defendants had infringed the Claimant’s EASYJET trade mark under s. 10(3) of the Trade Marks Act 1994 (TMA) by using three logos up to 2019.
In this second claim, easyGroup claimed that the Defendants had infringed two different trade marks including the word ‘easylife’ under s. 10(2) TMA. easyGroup had acquired both registrations as part of a settlement of separate litigation in 2022. Following a trial of the second Easy Live Auction claim in the Shorter Trials Scheme, Nicholas Caddick KC (sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge) dismissed the Claimant’s claim for infringement. In doing so, the Judge held that the average consumer would not assume that a party trading, even trading in relation to identical or similar services, using another sign that featured the word “easy” was easyGroup or associated in some way with easyGroup and/or its trade marks. The average consumer would not assume that the Claimant had a monopoly of the use of the word “easy”.
The Judge also dismissed the Defendants’ counterclaim for revocation of one of easyGroup’s ‘easylife’ marks alleged to have been infringed. In doing so, he held that (1) use of variants of the mark amounted to use of the mark as registered under s. 46(2) TMA and (2) use of some of those variants in relation to a service placing advertising inserts into Easylife retail catalogues amounted to use of the mark in relation to the general categories of ‘advertising services’ and ‘promotion services’.
Chris Aikens appeared as sole counsel for the Defendants.