EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou has angered telecoms group Orange with his plan to start a mobile phone company that will sport his distinctive orange logo. Business Editor Mike Parker looks at the possible outcome if the two companies decide to go to court.

ORANGE, the telecommunications group, will look to the successes of major corporations like BP and Barclays as it prepares for battle with easyGroup.

The company, which successfully launched on the back of a colour-dominated advertising campaign and slogan, will see that it is not the first company to fight to protect its corporate identity.

But this could be a bloody battle for ownership of the colour that gives it its name.

Stelios Haji-Ioannou has built a business empire that is as easily recognisable as Orange because he chose the distinctive colour to brand his ventures.

While the name easyGroup may not be widely known, his most famous business start-up, easyJet, and sister companies easyCar and easyInternetCafe, certainly are.

Each and every "easy" venture is recognisable by its orange logos and branding.

But Mr Haji-Ioannou's plans to open a budget mobile phone operation, called easyMobile, has been a step too far for Orange.

The French-owned company, which employs 5,500 staff in the North-East, has not spoken of plans to tackle the easyGroup, but Mr Haji-Ioannou said Orange had made it clear it did not want a rival operator sporting its colours. Niall Head-Rapson, head of intellectual property at North-East law firm Ward Hadaway, said: "It is possible for companies to claim rights to a colour.

"The way in which trademark legislation is drafted allows businesses to claim rights to what is referred to as a sign. A sign is something that differentiates your business from someone else's business, and if that is a colour, then as long as you are able to prove that people associate that colour with you, you can acquire trademark rights for which you can obtain a registration.

"In this case, there are two businesses who have established a reputation for the same colour, orange, but in distinct and separate markets. There has been no overlap and therefore no previous clash of interest in the orange sign.

"But, now that Stelios is looking to extend the use of the easyGroup's corporate orange to the mobile phone market, an element of direct rivalry rears its head and there is the possibility of confusion with Orange mobile phones."

EasyGroup has applied to register the orange colour, listed as number 021 on a grading scale called the pantone system, as a trademark.

Orange is expected to appeal against infringement of its registered trademark.

Barclays Bank is one company that stamped its mark on a colour. In its case, blue was the colour of its banking system and it wanted to formalise ownership within its market.

Oil group BP went to court over its right to register a mark consisting of the colour green, pantone 348c, as part of its identity.

The colour covers a significant proportion of its service station branding and it wanted to protect its intellectual property rights to prevent a rival petrol retailer using the same green.

The court agreed with BP's argument that a rival's similar colour caused confusion.

Mr Head-Rapson said: "Businesses need to seek registrations in the markets in which they trade - and this can be successfully done, regardless of the might and size of the opposition. That is where their rights lie."