Google’s email service Gmail is in trouble in Europe - or its name is at least.
In the UK, already a trademark dispute means that all new signups get @googlemail.com addresses instead of @gmail.com, and the branding on the actual webmail interface mentions ‘Google Mail’ instead of the shortened form.
According to this report, however, a German entrepreneur, Daniel Giersch, who offers an email service called G-mail is trying to battle Google in the courts to stop using the Gmail name.
However, Mr Giersch is now apparently taking the fight to the EU courts, meaning a judgement in his favour could have repercussions for all EU member states.
The current situation, for the UK at least, is that people who signed up before the name change retain @gmail.com addresses, and new signups get @googlemail.com. Sending email to both domains currently gets through to the right account.
However, it’s not clear at this stage whether this legal battle might cause Google to be forced to move all users residing in EU countries over to a Google Mail address, or if it has more potential issues.
This certainly must be a nasty headache for Google, not to mention Mr Giersch’s service and the confusion Gmail and G-mail must cause to him.
Interesting, I’d heard about it with the UK before, but this seems like it’s just going to be an inconvenience for everyone (assuming Daniel Giersch wins his court case). I have used my Gmail address for years now, and will be incrediblyannoyed if it just stops working one day.
I don’t think Google would remove the use of the Gmail.com domain name - it does legally belong to them, and I suspect that it would be beyond the control of the EU to prevent its use in Europe (given the fact that it is owned by a US company, and issued by a US registrar).
Complex trademark legal issues here though, so I won’t pretend to know for sure!
I think the whole Gmail to Google Mail started from Germany > UK > Now as mentioned - throughout Europe.
I dont see the difference as a user as both: user@gmail.com and user@googlemail.com work!
By the way guys nice blog - found you guys from Techcrunch! I love the UK feel to your blog!
Raj - you’re right, it doesn’t matter at all, unless the @gmail.com address suddenly stops working.
That would be a disaster.
Thanks for the kind words, BTW!
Yesterday (or was it the day before?) I was surprised to see the old Gmail logo at the top of my (UK) Gmail inbox. However, on refreshing the page, it changed back to Google Mail. A slight pity, as the Gmail logo does look a bit better!