easyJet founder wants to sue Netflix for calling a show 'Easy'
The airline's billionaire owner wants the show's name changed in Europe.
One of Europe's leading budget airlines is lawyering up to take Netflix to court over its Easy dramedy. The UK's easyJet -- which serves more than 30 countries, helping it rake in more than $6.5 billion in 2017 -- says the show's name infringes its European trademarks. If easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou gets his way, Netflix could be forced to change the program's name in Europe.
Recently renewed for a third and final season, Easy is a Chicago-set anthology series that charts the intertwined antics of a group of friends navigating sex, culture and technology. Created by indie filmmaker Joe Swanberg, the show has featured Dave Franco, Zazie Beetz, Glow's Marc Maron, and Black Mirror and The Cloverfield Paradox star Gugu Mbatha-Raw, among others.
Legal proceedings against the show are set to begin this week, according to The Sunday Times amid accusations from Haji-Iannou that the series copied his airline's font and colours. You can tell how precious easyJet's parent is about its trademarks by peeping the "brand thieves" section on the EasyGroup site. Netflix clapped back by saying that "viewers can tell the difference between a show they watch and a plane they fly in."
Update 10/1/2018 12:48PM ET: This article and headline originally referred to Stelios Haji-Ioannou as the owner of easyJet. They have been updated to more accurately reflect his role as founder.
