Stelios Haji-Ioannou has spent most of his business life building and defending a single, deceptively simple word.

Since founding EasyJet in the mid-1990s, the knighted entrepreneur has treated “easy” not as a generic adjective but as an asset — something to be licensed, extended and, when necessary, fiercely protected. 

What has changed in recent years is not that strategy or instinct, but the arena in which those battles are now fought.

Increasingly, that arena is Ireland.

The shift began to take shape quietly in June 2023, when Easygroup IP Ireland Ltd was incorporated in Dublin. It was essential to have a dedicated intellectual property holding company. 

In the aftermath of Brexit, the logic was clear: EU trade mark rights would need an EU home. By rooting the company here, Haji-Ioannou ensured that any battles would be fought here also.

What followed was a steady procession through the Irish High Court.

Shortly afterwards, legal actions were issued against two corporate entities, Blue Capital Markets Ltd and Easy Forex Trading Ltd. 

Blue Capital Markets is a Cypriot-registered company offering financial services. One of its offerings is EasyMarkets, which provides forex trading mainly to Europe and the Asia Pacific region. Easy Forex is a related company and a trading app. 

Later that year, another case was issued by Easygroup IP Ireland Ltd against ER Travel. Again, it centred on intellectual property.

It has not been all plain sailing, however.

In 2024, Justice Seamus Twomey dismissed, on jurisdictional grounds, the trademark infringement and passing off claim EasyGroup had brought against Easy Forex and Blue Capital Markets Ltd.

Undeterred, Easygroup IP Ireland Ltd went back to the courts again last year, issuing a fresh case against Easy Reserve, a holiday rental site.

The company, registered in Dublin, is owned by Kentucky-based businessman James Stiller, Tunisian businessman Francesco Gren, and Kildare-based Luca Cazzaro.

Taken together, the cases point to a clear strategy. 

Ireland has become the cornerstone of Sir Stelios’s post-Brexit intellectual property campaign.

All this background matters because it brings us to the most recent and arguably most sensitive dispute yet.

In recent days, EasyGroup and its Irish IP subsidiary have lodged another legal action, this time against a company called Easyfundraising and its parent company, The Support Group (UK).

Both defendant companies are incorporated in Britain and their model centres on linking brands with charities, whereby, as the intermediary, the business gets a slice.

Both sides have been battling it out in the UK courts for some time now, with both scoring different victories.

Now, Haji-Ioannou is again turning to Ireland.

His arguments are set out in a statement of claim delivered by Simmons & Simmons, alleging infringement of a registered European trade mark for “easyfundraising.ie”.

According to the pleadings, the mark was filed in February 2025 and registered later that year in classes covering advertising and charitable fundraising services. EasyGroup alleges that Easyfundraising has infringed those rights by directing activity at Irish users through its UK-based website and online presence.

To support that allegation, the statement of claim points to fundraising activity involving a wide range of Irish businesses, charities, and organisations. 

Among the charities that it alleges have been targeted are Breast Cancer Ireland, Christian Aid Ireland, Church Mission Society Ireland, Down Syndrome Ireland–linked initiatives, and Hope House Ireland and Irish Community Care, among others. Meanwhile, businesses which have been marketed to include Aer Lingus, Irish Ferries, Travelodge Ireland, Dublin Airport Parking, Life Style Sports, Dubarry, and Magee 1866.

EasyGroup argues that facilitating fundraising for Irish-based causes demonstrates what it describes as an active engagement with the Irish market, rather than the mere passive accessibility of a UK website. 

The pleadings state that the defendants have “directed and conducted” business in the State, creating a likelihood of confusion with the EasyGroup mark and taking unfair advantage of its reputation.

In a statement to The Currency, EasyGroup said that Easyfundraising “is not a charity. It is a for-profit UK company backed by the UK private-equity firm Palatine”. 

The statement also addresses the legal basis of the Irish action, noting that EasyGroup’s claim “is based on separate and newly established rights that did not exist at the time the UK proceedings were launched”, and that the Irish case is therefore “a new and distinct claim, rather than a continuation of the UK action”.

I reached out to Easyfundraising for a reaction. Its CEO, James Moir, responded by saying that it was “disappointed that, following our wins in the UK High Court in September 2024 and the Court of Appeal in July 2025, EasyGroup has chosen to pursue further trademark proceedings relating to Ireland”. 

Moir said that Easyfundraising does not operate in the Republic of Ireland and only operates within the UK, as set out on its website and in its terms and conditions.  

“We do, however, have a small number of travel retailers on our platform that are based in Ireland, so that we can support our UK-based supporters when they choose to travel to the Republic of Ireland. We also support a number of causes and charities based in Northern Ireland, where our platform is used by smaller community groups to raise vital funds at no extra cost to supporters when shopping online,” he said.  

For Sir Stelios, the principle is familiar. The “easy” name, he has long argued, signals consistency and consumer expectation. Allowing similar names to operate in overlapping online spaces risks dilution and confusion.

He has made that case for years. However, more recently, his location for making it has been Dublin. 

The most recent Irish proceedings rest on the argument that newly registered EU and Irish trademarks — held through its Dublin subsidiary — have reset the enforcement landscape following Brexit.

As an aside, it is worth noting that the Greek-Cypriot entrepreneur is no stranger to Ireland. His partner is Irish and, through his foundation, he has launched the North–South Business Co-operation Awards with Co-operation Ireland to encourage cross-border entrepreneurship and start-ups on the island of Ireland.

Last year, he handed out cheques to businesses for €500,000. Clearly, he likes it here. Just as well, because as the litigation mounts, he could be spending more time in Ireland.

Elsewhere last week…

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Co-founded by entrepreneurs Michael Carey and Alison Cowzer, East Coast Bakehouse employs 78 people in Drogheda. Last week, it went into interim examinership. A report filed in the High Court outlines the company’s financial position, examines what went wrong, and details its plans for survival.

Stephen Holst is managing partner of McCann FitzGerald, a law firm with 680 people and deep roots in Irish business. He spoke to Tom about leading a law firm and his plans for his second term as managing partner. 

As AI reshapes how people learn and teach, Dr Mary Kelly, the new president of Hibernia College Group, explained how technology is being embedded into teacher training — and why exporting that expertise is now a global opportunity.