Google Loses GMAIL in EU
Ars Technica reports that Google has been dealt a blow by OHIM with regard to the mark GMAIL in the EU. I'm sure IPKat will have the story soon.Daniel Giersch, a German-born 32-year old entrepreneur, has just announced that his company received a positive ruling last week from the Harmonization Office supporting his claim that "Gmail" and his own "G-mail" are confusingly similar. 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. On January 23, according the Giersch, the Harmonization Office supported his own claim against Google, a company he refers to as "Googliath."
posted by Aaron Silverstein @ 6:20 PM
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