It emerged this week that Google has been forced to stop using the term 'Gmail' in connection with its free e-mail service in the United Kingdom.
In May 2002, a subsidiary of UK-based Independent International Investment Research PLC launched a new version of its “Pronet” suite of products including “G-Mail™ web based email”. On 1 April 2004 Google announced the launch of its e-mail service, which it branded as “GMail™”.
Action, on behalf of IIR and its operating companies, was then taken to protect their intellectual property through the filing of applications to register the trade mark, the filing of oppositions to Google’s CTM applications, and also through notification to Google that its use of the trade mark was inconsistent with IIR's intellectual property rights.
In a statement, the online search giant explained the reasoning behind the decision to amend the service's name to Googlemail in the UK:
"This company has been very focused on a monetary settlement," it announced, continuing: "We went back and forth trying to settle on reasonable terms, but the sums of money this company is demanding are exorbitant."
Google is also likely to employ the Googlemail name in Germany, where it has been fighting a similar trademark battle.
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