According to the entrepreneur, easyGroup has signed an agreement
with Danish telco TDC to allow the telecoms company to launch a
service in the UK under the easy brand. If successful, the service
will then be extended to 12 other European countries.
To be marketed under the name of easyMobile.com, the new service
seeks to buy airtime from network operators and to sell this on
cheaply to mobile users in the form of SIM cards, which will be
inserted into each customer's existing phone. The company will sell
only on-line, and will not sell handsets or accessories.
"Our aim is to make mobile telephony affordable to everybody.
These are the core brand values of the easy brand. I am delighted
that I found the best possible partners to launch the easy brand
into its 12th industry in less than 10 years," said Haji-Ioannou.
EasyMobile plans to use the familiar orange livery of other
companies under the easy brand.
This concerns Orange Personal Communications, which has a
registered trade mark for the colour orange in relation to, among
other areas, "telecommunication products and services".
The mark is divided in two. One element of the mark consists of
"the colour orange Pantone 151, being the predominant colour
applied to the visible surface of the packaging and/or advertising
and promotional materials."
The other element consists of a physical sample: "the colour
orange as shown on the form of application being the predominant
colour applied to the whole of the visible surface of the goods,
their packaging and/or promotional and advertising materials; and
being the predominant colour applied to the whole of the visible
surface of materials used in the advertising and promotion of
and/or performance, delivery and supply of services."
In a statement, Orange said: "We are aware of the announcement
made by easyMobile.com about their planned launch across Europe and
the planned use of the colour orange." It added: "We believe this
will cause confusion for our customers and we will do whatever is
necessary to protect our customers' best interests".
Speaking to The Telegraph newspaper, Stelios said of Orange's
concern: "I think they have no case to answer and their claims are
without merit. People can argue whatever they like but I think we
have the right to use the colour orange. I think they are afraid of
competition."
Last year, the European Court of Justice confirmed that a colour
can be registered as a trade mark, so long as it is described using
an internationally recognised identification code. A sample of the
colour is not enough.
On that occasion Dutch telco Libertel (now part of the Vodafone
group) had sought to register a shade of orange as a trade mark for
its goods and services, but had not referred to any colour code,
relying instead on a simple orange rectangle inserted in the
application form.
Other colours that have been trade marked include Deutsche
Telekom's magenta, and Heinz's turquoise.
Elsewhere, the Office of Fair Trading has stepped in to reassure
Peugeot dealers that they do not have to comply with the French car
manufacturer's "Blue Box" corporate branding standard for car sales
premises.
Peugeot dealers had been under the impression that they were
obliged to make sure that the exterior of their sales premises was
a particular shade of blue and were concerned that such distinctive
branding would discourage multi-franchising of different makes of
car on the same premises.
Peugeot has now informed the dealers that the standard is
recommended, but not compulsory.
To see Orange's colour trade mark, go to the UK's trade mark registry
search and enter the trade mark number 2057893.
