Airline founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou ‘deeply unimpressive witness’ – judge

EasyJet airline founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has been described as a “deeply unimpressive witness” by a High Court judge who oversaw a trademark dispute. Mrs Justice Bacon said Sir Stelios gave answers “that were defensive to the point of implausibility” when cross-examined at a recent High Court trial in London. The judge said she “unfortunately” had to conclude that she could place very little weight on his evidence – “save where” it was “corroborated by other evidence”. She outlined her views on Wednesday in a ruling on the dispute, which involved Sir Stelios’s easyGroup, and focused on a business he had launched more than a decade ago called easyOffice. EasyGroup had claimed “infringement” of “registered trademarks in the name EASYOFFICE” and accused a company called Nuclei, which is involved in advertising or brokerage of serviced office space, of “stealing our brand”. The judge made findings in favour of Nuclei. She said Nuclei’s use of easyOffice signs did not infringe easyGroup’s trademarks and said four easyGroup trademarks should be revoked on the “grounds of lack of genuine use”. “When cross-examined, Sir Stelios was revealed to be a deeply unimpressive witness,” said Mrs Justice Bacon, who oversaw hearings between December and early April. "He was argumentative, giving answers that were defensive to the point of implausibility, and repeatedly contradicted points set out in one or other of his witness statements. It was clear that he had a poor recollection of the events that formed the background to these proceedings."<br/>