Google sued over Gmail name
p2p news / p2pnet:- A British firm which says it owns the Gmail trademark is suing Google for alleged copyright violation.
“Independent International Investment Research claims it registered the trademark in May 2002, two years before Google chose the name for its new email service,” says the Guardian Online.
“Despite entering ‘confidential negotiations’ to protect its trademark in April last year, IIIR said talks had broken down, despite proposals to settle from both sides.
IIIR said it hadn’t expected Gmail name to become an "intellectual property asset" when its Pronet subsidiary chose it as a name for a communications tool, says the story, adding:
“An independent valuation report commissioned last year by IIIR put a value of between £25m and £34m on the Gmail trademark.
“IIIR said it was willing to settle the dispute for ‘a considerably lower sum’, but said if formal legal proceedings were launched it would seek ‘maximum possible value for shareholders’.”
Google is defending the suit, says the Guardian.
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See:-
Guardian Online – Fight over Gmail trademark continues, September 12, 2005
Lauren Weinstein – Apple’s "iTunes" mess, September 10, 2005
September 13th, 2005 at 8:01 pm
What reason could this “British firm” possibly have for wanting the word “Gmail”???
I dont really care about this stupid british firm… they can go shuv it… Google shall stay Gmail, because it works and its popular…
Seems like something not quite right is going on… lots of people are trying to sue google for really stupid things…
September 13th, 2005 at 8:23 pm
So, if a US/Global company decides to set up a service with the same name as that already in use by a firm which happens to be British, then the US/G company should prevail simply because they’re US/G ?
Did I miss the sarcasm in the original reply ?
September 13th, 2005 at 9:34 pm
“According to the US Patent and Trademark Office, the “GMAIL” mark has been assigned to Google, who applied for the mark on April 2nd, 2004. The Trustees of the “Smith Trust”, Shane Smith and Karen Griffith, applied for the same “GMAIL” trademark on April 3rd, 2004, one day after Google Inc. The “Smith Trust” has not been assigned the trademark by the US PTO, and the latest rejection of their application was June 11th, 2005.
Perhaps someone else can post the equivalent info from the UK?
See Google’s GMAIL trademark assignment:
http://assignments.uspto.gov/assignments/q?db=tm&s no=78395746 [uspto.gov]
and the Smith Trust’s application status: (rejected)
http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&e ntry=78395931 [uspto.gov]”
So there! =P proves its just another group of people trying to expliot the system to make money off of google…
September 13th, 2005 at 9:38 pm
“patent.gov.uk is the UK trademark website. If you search it, you’ll find the earliest application is from Google, Inc. on April 14th, 2004. Karen Griffith applied on October 4th, 2004, almost half a year later.
So there you go. In the USA, Google applied first, and with an earlier date of first use to boot. Google quickly followed up and applied in the UK as well. These guys, supposedly BASED in the UK, didn’t bother for another 6 months. Further, their only reference in their UK application was to their US application. If that application was rejected, the UK one will be too, I would imagine.”
At any rate, Google owns Gmail in the US. =P
September 13th, 2005 at 9:44 pm
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-1776999,00.html
September 13th, 2005 at 9:49 pm
“This piece of action has come about because IIIR is claiming their rights to the G-Mail name and have requested a 0.5 per cent royalty from Google from GMail’s revenue. IIIR claims that their GMail service is available to 10 million users in the United States and that sharing the same name has lead to confusion among their users and their clients.”
In my mind, that IIIR company doesn’t have any right to ask google for money… especially since they are in a different country than Google…
Also, Google doesn’t “directly” make ANY money off of GMail, cause its a completely free service! =P
September 13th, 2005 at 10:03 pm
>At any rate, Google owns Gmail in the US. =P
Not according to Cencourse they don’t…
http://www.gmailusers.com/gmail-trademark-applications.htm
September 14th, 2005 at 3:50 am
Google does own the trademark in the US.
And as for those other places that filed for it around the same time… well they were trying to steal it from google first, so that they could charge google for using it/sue them…
This happens a lot when a popular company wants to copywrite their new name… some other jackass company will take if first to gain an advantage over them…
September 14th, 2005 at 6:46 pm
It doesn’t matter how hard you wish, you can’t remake the world simply because you want it to be different.
Check your facts independently – compare the status of Google’s & Cencourse’s applications at the USPTO.
It wouldn’t be the first time a big company has f’d up naming something. [Remember Apple's Rendezvous, sorry Bonjour ?]
September 14th, 2005 at 11:26 pm
wtf??? O_o no one said anything like that… XD your a moron! XD