So EasyGroup and their attention hungry CEO Stelios are branching into a new venture, EasyCinema in the cultural icon of the UK, Milton Keynes. Pricing according to demand is nothing new to EasyGroup, EasyJet have been doing it for years and if it brings savings who am I to argue? What I do object to are the puff press pieces complaining about how EasyCinema are being unfairly targeted by the UK film distributors. Stelios wants to play on a level playing field with Warner Brothers and the other UK cinema chains. The distributors won't give him the newest releases, so he cries foul. Fair? Well yes, but there's a problem.

Easy Group and Stelios have been laying claim to easy* and easi* domain names as fast as they can find them. They even have a specific email address for reporting "brand thieves". When you purchase a domain name you have to agree to the terms and conditions of your registrar. These terms and conditions usually have arbitration clauses stating how disputes will be solved. In the .com/.net/.org space these are generally handled by WIPO. Businesses tend to like the WIPO, they have a habit of handing domains over to the people with the biggest cheque book, but recently they appear to finally have purchased a clue.

EasyGroup doesn't feel that the domain name arbitration schemes they agreed to work, even though it's "the rules". The WIPO ruled that "easy" is a common word and no company can claim rights over it. Instead they start taking people to the British High Court.

Some of the cases are cut and dried, people "passing off" their domains by using the ugly EasyGroup orange and, of course, in these cases the domains should be removed from their owners. However that doesn't seem to be enough for EasyGroup. They starting send legal threats to other Easy* owners including EasyArt. There was no passing off, EasyGroup don't own any art dealers, so what exactly was the problem? The High Court in turn ruled that EasyGroup had no rights over the word "easy" either, but still Stelios says he's going to take people to court.

So it seems Stelios and the EasyGroup only want rules to apply to their commercial enterprises when the rules suit them and want to reject other rules when they don't get what they want. Does this fit with the "poor, woe is me, everyone is out to stop me" Stelios makes so much of? You decide.