p2pnet.net News:- Google has suffered a serious setback in Europe.

It can’t use its Gmail trademark there, the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market has ruled.

So says Daniel Giersch, a 32-year old German entrepreneur who calls Google Googliath, and who’s quoted in Ars Technica.

The decision supports his claim that, ” ‘Gmail’ and his own ‘G-mail’ are confusingly similar,” says the story, going on:

“G-mail is a German service that provides a ‘gmail.de’ email address, but also allows for a sort of ‘hybrid mail’ system in which documents can be sent electronically, printed out by the company, and delivered in paper format to local addresses.

“Giersch has been successful in German courts so far, which is why German users can’t sign up for ‘gmail.com’ accounts (they get ‘googlemail.com’ instead), and he has now taken his fight to the EU office that handles trademark disputes for the continent.”

So now looks as thought it’ll be ‘Google Mail’ throughout Europe,” adds the story.

. Slashdot it!

Also See:
Ars Technica – Google can’t use “Gmail” name in Europe, January 31, 2007

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 1st, 2007 at 11:15 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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