Trademark dispute - Google forced to drop GMAIL name
Google has had to change the name of its Gmail service to Googlemail.com following a trademark dispute with London-based Independent International Investment Research.
From today, users signing up to Google's email service will get an @googlemail.com address. However those that have already signed up will keep their @gmail.com addresses.
The decision follows an 18-month dispute between the US search engine, which has a stock market value of $54.4bn (£31.3bn), and the UK financial research company with a market value of just £3.23m.
In September, Google had to switch its service in Germany to the Googlemail name after a court ruled that a Hamburg-based company had already registered the Gmail name.
IIIR has been using the "G-Mail" name for its Pronet subsidiary's web-based email product since May 2002, two years before Google launched its Gmail web-based service.
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