Originally published November 27 2005
Google will no longer use the Gmail name in UK
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Google's email service name is no more in the UK thanks to a small British company that owns the rights to the trademark. Users that already have accounts will keep their "@gmail.com" addresses.
Google has dropped the Gmail name for its e-mail service in the UK following a long-running row with a small British company that has claimed the rights to the trademark.
Google has a market value of some $84.7 billion (�49bn) and more than $7 billion in cash in the bank.
In contrast, the Aim-listed Independent II Research (IIIR), a British financial research company, has a market value of just �3.23 million.
Google said it made the switch from Gmail to Google Mail voluntarily to avoid "distraction and confusion" for its users.
It continues to dispute IIIR's claims to the trademark and says the name change will not affect the way in which Google Mail users access or send mail.
The dispute has already dragged on for 18 months during which a flurry of sometimes heated correspondance has passed between the offices of IIIR and Google.
IIIR says it launched "G-MailTM web based email" in May 2002 - nearly two years before Google unveiled its own branded e-mail service, known at "GMailTM".
"Despite what we regard as the tenuous nature of their claims we have tried to resolve the matter in negotiations ...
We are still working with the trademark offices to ensure our ability to use the Gmail name in the UK but given that this could take years to resolve and get a final settlement we decided that we want our users to have no distraction over their e-mail address."
In response to the name change, Shane Smith, chairman and chief executive of IIIR, said: "We've been asking them to change the name since 2004.
Google has alleged IIIR's motivation in the matter appeared to be "monetary" but that although it had engaged in financial negotiations, the two parties were too far apart to agree.
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