Gmail Becomes Google Mail in the UK

akadruid writes "As of today, UK Gmail users are seeing 'Google Mail' at the top of their Gmail accounts, and Google is warning they may lose their '@gmail.com' addresses in the future. All new signups from the UK will be assigned '@googlemail.com' addresses, and existing accounts will be able to use either domain for now. Gmail's help pages explain this is related to their ongoing dispute regarding the Gmail trademark."

Article to the original lawsuit

[Augusto]

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651, 39218121,00.htm [zdnet.co.uk]

It seems they already did this for Germany too, didn't know that.

IIIR used the gmail name since 2002

[grandmofftarkin]

They were using it for a web-mail application targetted at investors in currency derivatives. Since that was 3 years ago and they have a business around it I would hardly call them freeloaders.

Google should have checked this stuff out before rolling aout the name around the world.

links and background info

[cyclomedia]

quick google search (heh) turned up this:

http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3 394361 [internetnews.com]

suggesting that a bunch of people attempted to register gmail as a trademark at the same time back in march/april 2004, including google who were a bit slow off the bat. this applies in the US and i assume it's been resolved, anybody?

as for the uk this guardian article

http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,125 97,1568223,00.html?gusrc=rss [guardian.co.uk]

suggests that the company registered it waaaay back in 2002, therefore not qualifying for bandwaggoning and actually probably having a legit claim.

No problem at all (for now)

[xtracto]

I read the article from BBC news [bbc.co.uk] before this morning. It seems they have lost against IIIR, who wanted an "exorbitant quantity of money" for the name.

And so, this change is the second one (after they changed the name in Germany). It seems this company (IIIR) thought of a "great" plan to make money uh?

Anyway, from the article and Gmail site, current users do not have anything to fear, and of course you can always change your country location when you sign up and get an actual gmail account.

On a side note, I guess 90% of pepople on slashdot already knew that, as they certainly have gmail...

Re:I hate these freeloaders

[gilesparsons]

I don't think they're trying to cash in; rather, they registered the name a couple of years before google started using it, and it would have been far more sensible for google to examine the international legal status of the trademark before launching it. the guardian ran a story about it a month ago: http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,156 8222,00.html?gusrc=rss [guardian.co.uk]

Thankfully...

[cianduffy]

Google understands the difference between the UK [google.co.uk] and Ireland [google.ie], meaning I get to keep a gmail.com addy even if the UK is made go to googlemail.com

Unlike Microsoft, who now offer you a hotmail.co.uk adress if you say you're in Ireland.

Re:FAQ-ing confusing

[bedroll]

Q4:

What if I'm a UK user who already has a Gmail address? Will that address ever change?
Unfortunately, we don't know. We would love to say that your address will always remain the same. But the trademark issue is still unsettled, and unfortunately, we cannot predict what the other party or the courts might do here. You can always use your same username with an @googlemail.com address to avoid this issue later on. But trust that we will do the best we can to make sure your email address won't ever have to change.

Translation: They cannot guarantee that your address won't change if you have an existing account and are allowed to continue using the gmail.com domain.

Q5:

What if I'm a UK user who already has a Gmail address? Will I also need to change that address?
No, this change doesn't affect existing Gmail addresses. For now, our plan is only to issue @googlemail.com addresses to new users. Trust that we will do the best we can to offer all our users a reliable and consistent email experience.

Translation: You don't need to change your address right now if you have an existing account that is allowed to use the gmail.com domain. New accounts will not be issued gmail.com email addresses, in favor of googlemail.com.

They are very close, but there's just enough difference to make them both valuable questions and answers.

Other company has had an email service since 2002

[grandmofftarkin]

They are using it for an email service [theregister.co.uk] already and have done since 2002. They don't have millions of users but I don't think that should matter as long as they do (and did) provide a viable email service of the same name.

Re:IIIR used the gmail name since 2002

[SimilarityEngine]

According to the BBC [bbc.co.uk] IIIR did not already own the TM before Google announced their version of Gmail:

After Google announced its Gmail plans in spring 2004, IIIR rushed to register the Gmail trademark with Ohim, the European Union's trademark office, and the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Re:IIIR used the gmail name since 2002

[jschrod]

They owned the trademark, but did not register it before.

There is the difference between TM and (r), you know?

I have several projects where I haven't bothered to register any trademark for. If a giant like Google or Yahoo would announce a project with the same name, I would be quick to register my existing trademark, too. After all, they exist and are established and I don't want to loose them. Every business would do so, everything else would be neglection.

Re:Will I keep my username?

[Finuvir]

Try sending an email to [yourname]@googlemail.com. You'll receive it in your Gmail inbox. They haven't reserved the name for you; they've already given it to you.

Re:@googlemail.com address may be a collector's it

[Xarius]

Every person with a gmail account has a googlemail.com address anyway.

Re:IIIR used the gmail name since 2002

[Peyna]

Owning and registering a trademark are two different things.

You "own" a trademark as soon as you use it in commerce. You register it to gain certain other rights, including a presumption of validity in a lawsuit. But, the basic test is first to use, not first to register.

Re:Privacy issues?

[fabs64]

Amazingly enough there's not yet a response saying "NO".
Google still own the "gmail.com" domain, whether another company owns the trademark in the UK or not, mail addressed to @gmail.com will still end up at a google server.

Re:No more changing your email

[Armour Hotdog]

If you don't want to bother creating/deleting emails in your own domain (or for those without personal domains), I've found these services to be very useful for this sort of thing:

http://www.spamgourmet.com/ [spamgourmet.com]
http://www.sneakemail.com/ [sneakemail.com]
http://www.mailinator.com/ [mailinator.com]

Re:So, who...

[VJ42]

Here you go: http://www.iirgroup.com/ [iirgroup.com]
From the contact page
Independent International Investment Research PLC
Head & Regestered Office
30 City Bussiness centre
St Olav's court
Lower Road
London
SE16 2XB

Email:[e-mail]
tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]

Re:No more changing your email

[MyTwoCentsWorth]

That would be a false statement. Yahoo does NOT require you to buy any other services in order to buy a domain at 2.99 /yr. I just checked and I could complete a full 5-year domain registration for $14.95.
So, do you work for GoDaddy or just volunteer for them ?
Happy Posting.

Re:No more changing your email

[Tinidril]

This has been a great strategy for me. I have my own domain that forwards to my gmail account, and google now allows me to send mail using the gmail interface from whatever email address I choose. (As long as I can recieve mail sent to that address.) My domain is hosted at mydomain.com which has free dns hosting and email forwarding, so its all real easy to manage and costs almost nothing.

The one gotcha is that I had an SPF record to restrict what servers could send email from my domain. When I started sending from google I added "-all a:google.com" to the SPF record and its been working great.

Re:branded addresses

[bastardsquadmuzz]

Google already has the option to send mail as if from another address, and almost all mail servers can forward recieved email to a different address. This is exactly what I do -- all my personal mail (*@muzz.co.uk) is sent through sendmail to my google address, and all outgoing mail is re-written with my personal address. For how to do this, see

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answe r=20616&topic=1571 [google.com]

Re:Yep

[ngoy]

More information here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4354954.stm [bbc.co.uk]. The company (International Investment Research) has some stupid button that says gmail on an app, and then decided to get it registered after google came out with gmail. The company is only worth $5.6 Million anyways. I hope google decides to just do a hostile takeover (they are publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange) and then fire the dumbasses and their legal team for being conniving assholes.

Re:I work internationally

[itsme1234]

They're been doing this redirection for a long time now, the reason is that they can give you a "google.com" cookie and track you accross services (for better or worse).

Re:I hate these freeloaders

[Armour Hotdog]

Well, as long as you're changing your address anyway, it's the perfect opportunity to switch providers. Given the reviews of Yahoo Mail [slashdot.org], I might take the opportunity to switch myself if Google drops the gmail domain.

GMail users already have GoogleMail!

[jbarr]

You may not realize this, but if you currently have a GMail account, you already have a GoogleMail account. Next time you login to Gmail, append googlemail.com to your username, and it will let you in. Have someone send you an email addressed to [e-mail] instead of [e-mail], and you will receive it.

So, for those of you who are concerned about losing your coveted gmail address when "switching" to GoogleMail, don't fret. You already have it on GoogleMail!

-Jim
http://gmailtips.com/ [gmailtips.com]

Google search redirects

[astralbat]

I live in the UK
I've noticed recently that going to http://www.google.com/ [google.com] redirects me to http://www.google.co.uk/ [google.co.uk]

Handy, but it's a shame I use http://www.google.com/ig/ [google.com] for which there is no UK local alternative :-(