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easyGroup takes legal fight against ‘pirate’ airline to the US
UK based easyGroup, parent of budget carrier easyJet, is ramping up legal action against a ‘pirate’ airline.
It filed a lawsuit in US District Court for the Southern District of Florida this week against Colombia-based Easyfly for trademark infringement.
It already initiated legal proceedings against the airline and has now extended it to the US as Easyfly is targeting US customers.
Also named in the suit are Skyscanner and Kayak which are facilitating bookings on behalf of Easyfly.
"These parties benefit from the online traffic by using the infringing mark to offer services despite the fact that they do not ultimately sell the ticket," said easyGroup.
The lawsuit claims the airline is ‘copying easyGroup’s highly successful ‘easy’ family of marks in general and ‘easyJet’ in particular.’
easyGroup has been engaged in legal proceedings in Colombia for some time against Easyfly’s ‘piracy.’
It pulled no punches, calling into question the airline’s safety.
"If the pirate airline crashes one of its planes and US consumers associate the pirate mark with the ‘easy’ family of marks it could irreparably and irreversibly undermine goodwill and trust."
easyGroup claimed it won a judgement in a Bogota court last year forcing Easyfly owner Alfonso Avila – described as a ‘brand thief’ by easyGroup – to pay 30 million pesos in damages.
There is also a lawsuit pending in the UK.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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