The country’s largest hotel brand Premier Inn has won a trademark legal fight against Easygroup.
Easygroup had sued Premier Inn for trademark infringement for using the tagline “Rest easy” in its branding.
The High Court didn’t agree and rejected the claims.
“Easygroup does not have exclusivity in the hotels sphere for ‘easy’ of a kind which garners protection under trademark law.”
“Even if Easygroup did somehow have exclusivity in the use of the word ‘easy’ within the hotels sphere, the use by Premier Inn of that word only in the phrase ‘Rest easy’ would not, in my judgement, dilute the word ‘easy’ when used alone.
The judge called Easygroup a ‘frequent litigator in protection of its trademarks.’
Premier Inn started using ‘Rest easy’ in campaigns in April 2021.
The complaint claimed Premier Inn’s use of it was ‘detrimental to the distinctive character of each of Easygroup’s marks.’
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of the Easy group of brands plans to appeal the ruling.
“If the above decision stays unchallenged in the Court of Appeal I will start a new business called Premier Hotels and get away with it,” he said.
“The judge has reached the right decision. We thank him for the detailed judgment he has handed down. Rest easy is a familiar and widely-used phrase in British culture,” Premier Inn said
