EasyJet parent company launches infringement lawsuit against PC Music’s EasyFun
EasyGroup accuses the producer and DJ of “deliberate misappropriation” of its imagery across his career.
EasyGroup, the U.K.-based company behind the popular low-cost airline easyJet, has launched an infringement lawsuit against Finn Keane, a producer and DJ who has released music as EasyFun. PC Music, the soon-to-be-dormant label EasyFun released music on, is named as a co-defendant in the suit alongside label founder A.G. Cook.
EasyGroup’s announcement — first reported by MusicTech — accuses Keane of “deliberate misappropriation of easyGroup’s trademarks… including easyGroup’s well-known orange styling as used by its family of brands, including famously by its licensee easyJet.” The post includes examples of EasyFun’s aesthetic throughout his career, including the cover of the 2015 EP Deep Trouble, which depicts animated figures escaping a plane crash.
“Not only is the artwork in bad taste,” easyGroup writes, “but an association with such a tragic event risks seriously damaging the reputation in easyGroup’s trademarks, in particular easyJet.”
“easyGroup’s claim,” the post reads, “is that Mr Keane has taken unfair advantage of and damaged the significant reputation attaching to easyGroup’s trademarks. easyGroup believes that Mr Keane has deliberately chosen to mimic easyGroup’s famous branding to create instant brand recognition for his ‘DJ’ ing business.”
Keane’s response to easyGroup’s attorneys emphasized the humor in the images and promised to avoid referencing easyGroup going forward. “It’s very obvious that it’s meant as a joke and I really struggle to understand why your client has any reason to be concerned about it… That said, I obviously don’t want to be stuck in a legal dispute with a big company like your client and so I have removed the examples in your letter where I can and will seek to avoid similar artwork in the future.”
As MusicTech notes, the cover art for Deep Trouble has been changed to an image of the ocean. The FADER has reached out to EasyFun for more information. In August, EasyFun shared a new EP titled Electric.