A father who runs a driveway cleaning company called EasyJetwash is facing legal threats from easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.
Jozsef Spekker, 43, offers services such as pressure washers, patios and conservatories for around £100. Despite running his solo venture for three years, he is now under pressure from easyGroup, owned by low-cost airline tycoon Sir Stelios. The billionaire’s company demanded that Jozsef change the brand or risk an expensive lawsuit.
Jozsef, from Staffordshire, said: «They explained how my branding was very damaging to their business. They wanted me to remove all branding from Facebook and social media and shut them down. If I do what they want, I have to close the business, I would have to start again.»
He added: «The first two years I spent a lot of money on advertising. I have hundreds of videos on YouTube, a ten-minute video takes a long time to edit. I have at least 160 videos. People like to watch them. It’s mostly the word easy, which is the problem, I myself I call EasyJetwash,» the Mirror reports.
«If you look at most of my social media posts, I capitalize Easy and Jet. I try to keep it obvious that we have nothing to do with easyJet. They stick to the word ‘easy’, saying I’m trying to confuse their customers into believing I’m part of their group. I look very, very different.
«They don’t offer all the work that I do. The whole idea of calling my company EasyJetwash is that I’ve made hard physical work very easy with the right equipment and it’s really simple and easy to do. They[easyJet)don’tofferexteriorcleaningorbuildingrestorationwhichI[easyJet)don’ttofferanyexteriorcleaningorbuildingrestorationwhichIdo[easyJet)neNenudimnikakvovanjskočišćenjeilirestauracijuzgradaštojačinim[easyJet)don’tofferanyexteriorcleaningorbuildingrestorationwhichIdo
«Which is why my trademark was accepted. They didn’t challenge my trademark. I’m totally scared. Who am I compared to a multi-billion pound corporation? Just a few weeks ago I paid £800 on my credit card and I have no savings, I can’t fight them in court.»
After receiving approval for his company’s trademark in April 2022, Hungarian-born company owner Jozsef, who suffers from degenerative arthritis, is dealing with the stress of a potential legal battle. «I’m worried I’m going to lose everything,» the Newcastle-under-Lyme man admitted, noting that his company is vastly different from easyGroup’s services.
«Not only the business, but also the look of the business, and the way EasyJetwash was presented. When I registered as a trademark and was accepted, I was 100 percent sure that I had all the rights over my business, which is my only income.»
In an attempt to secure funds for all the impending legal bills, Jozsef created a GoFundMe page. Expressing his concern, he said: «Honestly, I’m worried about losing everything. With GoFundMe, I might have a way to fight that. I can’t afford to have someone represent me. I’m just a guy. A lot of people say I can get this case.
«It’s not only ridiculous, it’s insensitive. If you have money, you can sue anybody. I’m pretty sure they’re going to be tough.»
But Sir Stelios hit back, accusing Jozsef of being a «brand thief».
He said: «From my point of view, I think Mr Spekker is one of the most calculating and profiteering brand thieves I have come across in my 30 years of doing this business.
«Not only has he registered the domain easyjetwash.com which clearly contains the word easyJet, but he has also very cleverly performed search engine optimization to appear very high in Google search results using the search term ‘easyjet wash’.
«So now Spekker runs a very profitable business getting more and more customers who fall for the deliberate confusion he creates on the internet. Don’t believe him he doesn’t have the money to hire a lawyer. His problem is that no lawyer will tell him that what he’s doing is lawfully.
«Although there are some people who claim that we do not own a monopoly on the word easy (which I disagree with), but Spekker is the first person to ever claim that we do not own a monopoly on the word easyJet. We clearly own the word easyJet. We will win in court. «