Newly knighted easyEntrepreneur, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has been forced to concede defeat in a three-year legal battle against a local takeaway pizza business in North London.



The Times reports that Sir Stelios, whose interests include the easyPizza delivery franchise, had sought to prevent Karl Kahn from using the EasyPizza brand on his stores in Crouch End and Muswell Hill, claiming his own “easy" trademark had been breached. Mr Kahn, who opened his first store in 1997, was contacted by easyGroup three years ago and offered £400 for the EasyPizza name.

Mr Kahn remortaged his home and borrowed money to fund his legal costs of £135,000. This week, however, he is celebrating a victory for the Davids of this world after Sir Stelios decided to settle out of court.

Mr Kahn said: “There are thousands of other businesses with ‘easy’ in the name. They didn’t invent the word." Sir Stelios said: “We wish him well in trading using this name inside the very narrow geographical territory."

One wonders if Sir Stelios may be granted the title of Duke of York in next year’s honour list. The title comes with its own song – something about marching up a hill.