Tiddler Easyart sees off Stelios challenge

THE EasyGroup company run by the Greek entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou will pay thousands of pounds in costs after backing down in a legal battle with the UK's largest online art retailer, Easyart.com.

THE EasyGroup company run by the Greek entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou will pay thousands of pounds in costs after backing down in a legal battle with the UK's largest online art retailer, Easyart.com.

The decision was hailed by Simon Matthews, the chief executive of Easyart, as "a good day for smaller companies who stand up to bullying tactics from large corporations". He added: "For a website, your name is your bread and butter – it's not like being on the high street where you can just set up in a new shop."

James Rothnie, a spokesman for EasyGroup, said the claim had been dropped because it was "a huge drain on our time when we're busy with other projects".

EasyGroup has sued a number of domains with "Easy" prefixes, after the World Intellectual Property Organisation turned down its claim to the name. It won one of the two cases that have come to court. But many small domains have handed over ownership because they could not handle the legal costs.