easyMobile rages over Orange ads on easymobile

easyMobile - the mobile company owned by Greek-Cypriot entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Iannou - is threatening easymobile - the mobile phone company owned by Welsh reseller David Evans - with legal action unless it renames the business. In the meantime, Evans is splashing his easymobile homepage with ads for Stelios' rival operator Orange, which is also locked in a legal battle with the easyGroup boss.

David Evans, who claims he has been using the name easymobile for "two years longer than Stelios", said Stelios' company has threatened him with legal action and accused him of trying to imitate the easyGroup branding by using the colour orange.

"We find this absurd as we only use the colour orange to represent the mobile phone network Orange's logos and tariff branding," Evans said.

An easyMobile spokesman, however, said the Welsh company was deliberately trying to cause confusion in the marketplace.

"We're very concerned that he's marketing on the back of our launch," he said. "We don't want to confuse the consumer." easyMobile's spokesman added he wouldn't be surprised if Evans was aiming to cash in the association or try to sell his domain name.

"That could well be what he's hoping," he said. "It's not an option for us."

The Stelios-owned MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) is also railing against the ads for rival operator Orange, which is in litigation with easyMobile over branding issues. The easyMobile spokesman described the adverts on Evans' easymobile homepage for the operator as "a cunning plot to undermine our brand".

An Orange spokeswoman, however, said the ads were nothing untoward as Evans is a certified third-party reseller of Orange products and, as such, is entitled to use the logo.

The spokeswoman added that the operator wouldn't be discussing the issue with Evans in light of the potential legal scuffling. "That's nothing to do with us," she said. "Any litigation is between him and the litigant."

Orange and easyMobile are expected to see each other in court this year.