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sombrefanFrom today's London Times
Rivals beat Google to own trademark
By Tosin Sulaiman
AFTER a shambolic few weeks for Google, including an ill-judged interview with Playboy and failure to raise the expected $3 billion for a flotation, its owners must have hoped for better news.
However, the launch of their breakthrough new e-mail service has been thrown into confusion after Google did not register the service’s name, Gmail, as a trademark quickly enough.
Three other companies have got there first, including a London investment house which already runs a service called Gmail and lodged an application 48 hours after Google’s launch. The US Patents and Trademark Office consider applications on a first-come-first-served basis.
As a result, the name “Gmail”, which was launched in a blaze of publicity three months ago, may have to be scrapped. It is unclear whether, if this happens, they will also have to abandon the @gmail.com domain and e-mail addresses that have already been allocated. Google legitimately owns the “gmail.com” internet name, but it is not clear what will happen if it does not gain the trademark.
Rivals beat Google to own trademark
By Tosin Sulaiman
AFTER a shambolic few weeks for Google, including an ill-judged interview with Playboy and failure to raise the expected $3 billion for a flotation, its owners must have hoped for better news.
However, the launch of their breakthrough new e-mail service has been thrown into confusion after Google did not register the service’s name, Gmail, as a trademark quickly enough.
Three other companies have got there first, including a London investment house which already runs a service called Gmail and lodged an application 48 hours after Google’s launch. The US Patents and Trademark Office consider applications on a first-come-first-served basis.
As a result, the name “Gmail”, which was launched in a blaze of publicity three months ago, may have to be scrapped. It is unclear whether, if this happens, they will also have to abandon the @gmail.com domain and e-mail addresses that have already been allocated. Google legitimately owns the “gmail.com” internet name, but it is not clear what will happen if it does not gain the trademark.
