Bloggers say Gmail trademark dispute was avoidable

Google irked some British bloggers this week by changing its free Gmail service to Google Mail in the United Kingdom in order to end a trademark dispute. The search giant said it decided to change the suffix after protracted wranglings with research firm Independent International Investment Research (IIIR), which uses the name G-mail to refer to a part of its financial analytics software.

While all previous Gmail accounts will remain valid, new U.K. users signing up for Google's email service will be given accounts ending in @googlemail.com, rather than @gmail.com. A separate trademark dispute forced Google to drop the Gmail name in Germany in May, and Google also faces competition for a U.S. patent for Gmail.

Some bloggers blame Google's legal team for not anticipating the trademark problem. Others, however, feel it's IIIR that has pulled a fast one.

Blog community response:

"I have no sympathy for either side. Google's lawyers should have done a proper search for the trademark before launching the service, and they only have themselves to blame if they failed to notice that someone else had already applied for a trademark on the name. As for IIIR, it does look as if they're trying to capitalize somewhat on the success of Gmail and one wonders whether or not they would have made the same amount of fuss had a smaller company infringed their intellectual property."
--Data Circle

"The legal department at Google is obviously not doing their job. Or it's perhaps evidence of Google getting too big for their boots, thinking that with their size and value, they can ignore pesky limitations such as common law. Although the IIIR group would obviously have taken a huge cash settlement, the fact that they're standing up to the likes of Google is a good thing."
--matt-thornton.net

"IIIR have used the name GMail within its closed app for a while now. That's fair enough, but it's only used by a closed group. Why get so bent out of shape? It's not even the name of the app, it's a component of Pronet. No matter how they spin it, it does sound like profiteering...Trademark/patent law is an arcane mess at the best of times."
--GPSHEWAN.com

"Let's make no bones about this. I am very upset at the news this morning of Google having to change the name of Gmail to Google Mail. I beta-tested the service since April 2004, I distributed scores of invites and initiated discussions about the service in order to spread the word about how awesome it was. And now I could be facing the loss of my Gmail account name."
--Saturnine