No Gmail in the UK

The very popular free email service from Google, called Gmail, won't be available anymore in the UK under that name. Instead, new users signing up in the UK for a gmail account will have an email ending with ' @googlemail' . Earlier this year Google already had to change the name Gmail into Google Mail in Germany.

Reason for this name change is a trademark dispute between Google and UK financial research company Independent International Investment Research (IIIR). IIIR's Pronet subsidiary has a web-based email service called G-Mail. Google filed it's trademark application to little to late. In the mean time IIIR had claimed rights to the Gmail name, forcing Google to change the name to Google Mail in the UK.

Google also had to change the name Gmail into Google Mail in Germany earlier this year for almost the same reason. A Hamburg-based company had registered the name GMail five years ago to use it for advertising a 'hybrid mail service'.

A short explanation from Google can be found in the Gmail's help pages.

You would think a big company like Google would do a thorough investigation on a brand name and try to get a worldwide trademark for it before going public. I guess not....