easyGolf faces name showdown

Internet golf shop, 'easygolf', has been threatened with legal action by airline 'easyJet' if they do not change their name.

Jon Gibbons, 25, from Luton, formed the company in 1998, selling golfing equipment at below high-street prices. But easyJet owner Stelios Haji-Ioannou, whose airline is worth an estimated
£854 million, is prepared to sue Gibbons over his use of a small 'e' in the company name.

A furious Gibbons said: "Things are going really well and I'm not going to
change the name of my business - why should I? I was aware of easyJet but I'm
not trading off their good name. And how can you patent a word like easy? I
intend to defend this all the way and demonstrate that we are a successful
operation in a completely separate market."

A spokesman for Haji-Ioannou's easyGroup said: "What we are doing is making
sure other companies are not trading on the back of someone's brand name that
may have been built up over years. We have issue with about 100 other
companies. We are trying to protect our brand name."