Google loses appeal for Gmail trademark in Europe

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Google, web 2.0

Google loses appeal for Gmail trademark in Europe

by Danny Mendez Mar 20th 2008

Due to another company trademarking "G-Mail" in Germany, similar to Google's "Gmail" in the US, the search engine giant lost an appeal to use "Gmail" in the European Union. G-Mail stands for "Giersch Mail" in Germany, where Daniel Giersch runs an electronic postal delivery service -- if that's not email, we couldn't say what it is.

As a result, Gmail is now known as Google Mail in Europe. Google's email service is also known as Google Mail in the UK, where another company trademarked "Gmail" shortly after Google launched the service.

And the moral of the story is: The next time you launch any product or service, make sure to trademark the name before. As for Google, the company "got caught slippin" -- as we say in the hip hop world -- so too bad, so sad.

Tags: appeal, court, electronic postal delivery, ElectronicPostalDelivery, email, g-mail, gmail, google, law, lawsuit, legal, mail, trademark

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Maxsquared said 12:22PM on 3-20-2008

Why why why.... can't they change their name? I much prefer gmail too googlemail, it's just too long.

I know there is work arounds, but it's just why do we have to do that?

john said 12:23PM on 3-20-2008

While reading this article, and I was struck that it probably was relevant to a social networking site, HumanBook, which has over 250 million profiles of people, including you, your friends, classmates and relatives.

The HumanBook is a mutually managed people directory. People list their own real-life connections, and other connections they have awareness of, to create a lifelong network. The network houses the connections, and then the collaboratively updated address book nurtures them, assuring that they need never be lost. HumanBook is the tool that will allow you to cherish and sustain all of the connections of your whole life. So if you're interested, go to http://www.HumanBook.com and find your profile today!

John said 2:42PM on 3-20-2008

I am confused. What prevents someone in Europe from signing up with Gmail in the US?

keeves said 5:34PM on 3-20-2008

Nothing, if you go on a holiday to US, and want a @gmail instead of @googlemail account then sign up then. (also, anyone who signed up prior to the change to @googlemail kept their @gmail address)

whiskey said 10:57PM on 3-20-2008

Try to write to yourself @googlemail.com

In order to make it easier for you... you've got both addresses working...

x20mar said 7:08PM on 3-20-2008

You know, despite the legal name change, everyone will still call it gmail

Nicki Brøchner said 9:16PM on 3-20-2008

allow me to correct an error in this post. Because this ruling only effecting the German markedet. Since it is only in Germany that Daniel Giersch has the G-Mail trademark.

andrea said 5:49PM on 5-02-2008

A friend in Germany set up a new "gmail" acct and they got one with googlemail.de, not googlemail.com. Anyone know if they dropped .com for the country domain? He really wanted dot com

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters