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Google Forced To Ditch Another Gmail... But Does It Matter?

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from the dropping-like-flies dept

Wed, Oct 19th 2005 6:59am — Mike Masnick
Google has already been forced to get rid of the Gmail name in Germany over a trademark dispute, and now it looks like the similar threat in the UK has worked. While they say they'll still fight it out in the courts, Google is dropping the Gmail name in the UK, requiring all new UK users to sign up with a googlemail.com account. Of course, does it really matter? The name Gmail is already now pretty closely associated with Google and it's unlikely there's really much, if any, confusion with most of these other offerings. And, more importantly, can Google really tell if someone in the UK or Germany is from that country and know not to allow them to have a gmail.com address? It seems like an easy thing to get around for those who really want the gmail address. It sort of raises a bigger issue, though. With the "global" nature of the internet, is it really reasonable to have to deal with different local issues like this?
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15 Comments

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  • identicon
    Denis, 19 Oct 2005 @ 7:17am

    No Subject Given

    Unfortunately, unless you want to either:

    a) deal with an international body enforcing trademarks (currently probably only UN qualifies)
    or
    b) ignore all trademarks but the US (I see people suggesting this)

    you will run into a whole lot of trouble with places who already have established trademarks.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    dustrider, 19 Oct 2005 @ 8:27am

    Not impressed

    Tell you what as a gmail user in the uk, I'm not looking forward to having to change my account.
    Bit of a pisser really.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jeremy, 19 Oct 2005 @ 8:31am

    Hmm

    Well that can just add a DNS record and solve the problem and just have gmail.com resolve to googlemail.com and vica versa. Not that hard to setup really.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Dan Therrien, 19 Oct 2005 @ 9:43am

      Re: Hmm

      So True...google's intelligent enough to realize this too i'm sure...

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Tom, 19 Oct 2005 @ 8:58am

    Internet Regulation

    Unfortunately, for better or worse, the internet is headed for some type of regulatory control. As much as I feel for my British brothers "across the pond", any company desiring to do business at an international level is going to be bound by the regulations of those countries where they wish to operate, and that includes patent law (trademarks). With regard to the internet, enforcement will always be a problem.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Mousky, 19 Oct 2005 @ 11:37am

      Re: Internet Regulation

      This has nothing to do with internet regulation and everything to do with trademark law.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Tim, 19 Oct 2005 @ 9:08am

    The obvious suspect

    If the obvious suspect gmail.co.uk is correct, I'm wondering what the flip they're doing polluting public DNS space with a private internal company email system.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jordan, 19 Oct 2005 @ 9:41am

    Little Guy

    The question must be asked: "What about the little guy?" What if a small company is trying to create a presence locally and get overtaken by a giant comany wishing to use the same name world wide? Their presence is lost.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Mousky, 19 Oct 2005 @ 12:20pm

      Re: Little Guy

      The little guy needs to file their trademark or patent claim as soon as possible. With IP litigation increasing each year, it is prudent that companies register trademarks as soon as they are developing a product. The company in UK that claims it was using the term Gmail 2 years before Google went public with Gmail, did not file a trademark application in the US or UK until Google did. They should have filed 2 years ago.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Dam, 19 Oct 2005 @ 10:21am

    Google Needs a Refresher in Business 101

    Used to be when a new business was being planned, lawyers did trademark searches to make sure their clients didn't have this type of problem.
    Guess having lots of free cash means you can ignore the rules of business.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Mousky, 19 Oct 2005 @ 12:14pm

      Re: Google Needs a Refresher in Business 101

      This problem is not because Google (or any other business claiming the mark gmail) did not do a trademark search, it is because gmail was never registered as a trademark in the US or UK. In the US, Google was the third company to file a trademark claim for Gmail. In the UK, Google was the first company to file.

      The UK company believes it has a strong trademark case because it was using the mark Gmail two years before Google went public with it. But in the US, the mark Gmail was supposedly used as early as 1998 and Google used Gmail internally at least 2 years before going public. It's up to the government to decide who gets the trademark and then it will be up to the lawyers to determine who really gets the trademark.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Mousky, 19 Oct 2005 @ 11:46am

    Dispute is between many parties

    The thing is, that no trademark has been granted for the mark 'gmail'. In the US, a number of applicants, including Google, filed trademark claims during 2004. All remain active. One claim was filed in 1999 but was subsequently closed. It is this inactive filing that will likely determine who has the priviledge of registering gmail as a trademark based on common law trademark. And guess who Google has an agreement with? Milo Cripps, the individual who filed the now inactive trademark claim.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]


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