Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany

praps writes "A three-year trademark conflict has ended with Google withdrawing its use of the Gmail brand in Germany. On Friday, a plain-text message appeared, beginning 'We can't provide service under the Gmail name in Germany ... Bummer.' Despite the climbdown, Google Germany's spokesman said on Monday that the action was being taken 'even though we believe we're not legally obliged to do so.'" We discussed the tussle in Germany when Google first lost in court a year ago.

Comments

Surprising?

[Mensa Babe]

Well, it's hardly surprising. According to government records, the only names not yet trademarked are "Popplers" and "Zittzers". I remember the internal confusion at Google back in the day when there were plans to set up a worldwide network of Google hot spots, or Gspots, only to find out that it is nearly impossible to find a name that is both pleasant to the ear, even remotely meaningful and not already taken. Enyone remembers the scandal three years ago? This is another example. And what about our beloved Firefox browser? It had to change its name not once, not twice, but trice to finally get rid of the trademark problems and still any literate person will point out to the Craig Thomas' novel, not to mention the Firefox bicycle company, or the Malaguti Firefox scooter, all of which being much older than any web browser on Earth. But does it mean that people can't use Google to check for any prior art of the name they have chosen for their projects? No. It just means that all of that trademark hysteria of the last one and a half decades, this "get outta my intellectual property!" attitude, it all hurts progress. Because, at the end of the day, isn't progress what it is all about? Shouldn't we just shut up, roll up our sleeves and start making our global village a better place instead of worrying about not hurting someones feelings or not breaking some law? I am really sick of every good initiative being sabotaged by someone who "owns" some "intellectual property". Google is probably one of ten, maybe twenty companies that are more concerned about morals and ethics than profits, yet some Germans have a problem with one of its most popular names and when do they sue? When the name is already known worldwide! This is just too much. Please let me quote a great thinker, George Bernard Shaw: "If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas."

Re:Surprising?

[JDHannan]

This is the best post I've ever read on slashdot ever. +5 Everything

Re:Surprising?

[jez9999]

But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.

So, you have an idea that I thought up... for FREE!!! Evil commie. </Reagan>

Re:Surprising?

[Gewalt]

So JDHannan is one of your sockpuppets?

Re:Surprising?

[MisterBlueSky]

yet some Germans have a problem with one of its most popular names and when do they sue? When the name is already known worldwide!

They sued in 2005. GMail was launched in 2004. When should they have sued? In 1999?

Re:Surprising?

[exley]

The name "gmail" was already taken for an e-mail provider. Except for hard-core Google fanboys (and girls), this really seems like a pretty open-and-shut case.

For a case like Firefox, where there are other companies using "Firefox" in their name... I don't think there's any chance of bicycles and scooters being confused with a web browser. But an e-mail service and... An e-mail service, well, there might be room for some confusion there.

Google has a shitload of money. Does anyone really think they'd back down on this if they didn't have to?

Big gigantic company doesn't get its way every single time. Boo hoo. I think Google will survive.

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

"But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas."

The same could be said of STDs.

Re:Surprising?

[sexconker]

Popplers:
http://www.gotfuturama.com/Information/Encyc-41-Popplers/

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

You totally miss the point.

- Google is known worldwide, not "gmail"
not using your Googol-$ brand is a bummer

- they sued right away when gmail started

- every major multinational company knows how to
research international brand names, but Google can't? Google is not mozilla.org
At least they should learn how to find and use a good search engine in the internets.

- Google is not the savior of this planet, but another BIG company in the hands of greedy shareholders, like any other.
If you don't believe that. let's wait what will remain of Yahoo once Carl Icahn is done with it.

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

yup. Frankly, if someone had mentioned 'gmail' to me with no explanation back in 2003, I'd have assumed that it was a google product. But then I don't live in Germany.

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

When the name is already known worldwide!

You do realize that Daniel Giersch has had the trademark since 2000, right?

If so, are you arguing that larger entities should be entitled to remove properties from smaller entities merely due to their notoriety?

Re:Surprising?

[dreamchaser]

You had me up until this bit:

Google is probably one of ten, maybe twenty companies that are more concerned about morals and ethics than profits

Google is interested in profits, period. That doesn't make them bad. It just makes them like any other publically held company. The 'Don't be Evil' motto went out the window when they went public, for better or for worse.

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

For a case like Firefox, where there are other companies using "Firefox" in their name... I don't think there's any chance of bicycles and scooters being confused with a web browser. Well, I didn't think there was a chance of web browser being confused with BIOS firmware, nor did I think it was possible to confuse a browser with a database, but still the browser now known as Firefox was forced to change its name because of that potential confusion with Phoenix BIOS and FirebirdSQL, didn't it?

Re:Surprising?

[Capitalist Piggy]

Big gigantic company doesn't get its way every single time. Boo hoo. I think Google will survive.

I wasn't aware a 4900 employee company was "gigantic" these days.

Re:Surprising?

[photomonkey]

Moderation. As in, 'In moderation.'

In moderation, most things are good. If I make a really good car, and I call it a Sephir, I don't want another company to be able to call their car (or car-related service) a Sephir.

However, do I care if there's a Sephir cola? Probably not.

Do I care if someone makes an email service @sephir.com? Probably not.

Frankly, I probably wouldn't care if 'Sephir' became synonymic with 'car.'

But the problem, at least in the US, is that firstly, to hold a trademark, I must actively defend it. Meaning that to demonstrate that defense, I have to C&D or sue every ISP and cola manufacturer that uses it, so that when some slimy car company opens up and tries to usurp it from me, I have a legal leg to stand on.

The other problem is a sense of entitlement. Two search engines called Google? Award it to the original Google. A non-information technology product called Google using dissimilar trade dress (meaning the word, but not the logo as it sits today)? Let them run with it. It shouldn't hurt anything.

It's not IP that hurts progress. It is the overreaching of IP theories and laws that hurt progress. If a person invents or makes something really good, why not allow him/her to enjoy some real 'bonuses' for having done so?

Re:Surprising?

[morari]

... for FREE!!! Get off of Slashdot, Matthew Lesko!

Re:Surprising?

[mrsteveman1]

I found Googles Gspot, it was hidden behind some foliage and server wires.

Re:Surprising?

[damista]

It is indeed a bit surprising, considering the trademark in question is not "gmail" but "G-Mail...und die Post geht richtig ab" (the translation is of no importance here). The "gmail"-part isn't even spelt the same way. I can't really see people confusing one with the other.

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

You honestly think that Google (or any other company for that matter) is not primarily concerned with profits? You, sir, are wrong. The apparently altruistic behavior of Google indirectly causes profits by improving image and reputation.

Re:Surprising?

[ChameleonDave]

Karma: Positive (probably because of superiour intellect) Hey, I'm a Mensan too. So, please, on behalf of the organisation, I ask you to spell "superior" correctly. No, I don't care if it was supposed to be ironic. No, I don't care if you claim dyslexia. Just spell it right!

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

But the problem, at least in the US, is that firstly, to hold a trademark, I must actively defend it. Meaning that to demonstrate that defense, I have to C&D or sue every ISP and cola manufacturer that uses it, so that when some slimy car company opens up and tries to usurp it from me, I have a legal leg to stand on.

ISPs and colas using the name of your car is not trademark infringement, because they're different sectors. Letting an ISP or a cola have the same name is not going to hurt your defense if another car company infringes. What may hurt you is if you let your name become overly generified, though there are also plenty of examples of that happening to trademarks and the trademark still existing, like Band-Aid and Kleenex.

Re:Surprising?

[MadnessASAP]

You may be surprised to know that investors aren't in fact a bunch of baby eating demons. there are in fact some very large investors out there who care very deeply about the ethics of the companies they invest in. Both for personal and financial reasons because ethical companies are typically successful on the long term.

Re:Surprising?

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

Hey! You're infringing on the trademark of the Film Actor's Guild!

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hotsposts called Gspots... difficulty finding it... Google's search engine. There must be a funny marketing campaign in there somewhere.

Re:Surprising?

[mqduck]

Google has a shitload of money. Does anyone really think they'd back down on this if they didn't have to? Google does indeed have a shitload of money. I'm somewhat surprised they haven't bought the rights to the name/the company. Were they asking for "too much" money? For that matter, how big are the g-mail people?

Re:Surprising?

[K. S. Kyosuke]

When Mozilla renamed Phoenix to Firebird, I started having serious trouble googling for information on Firebird The Database Server - almost any usable information at all. You see, things like news, web pages of its users and so on. (At that time, I was learning Firebird in order to write a school project on top of it, and as a newbie, I simply used Google first to get some pointers.) Most of the things I was able to google were "OMFG the new super cute Firebird browser!". Oh, this, and the flamewsrs between Mozilla fanbois ("The branding of Mozilla Firebird won't hurt you at all, as we are no RDBMS!") and the Firebird community.

But truly relevant search results? Googling for "firebird server" did not help at all for obvious reasons and "firebird database server" helped just a little (the interesting pages that the search found were the ones I already had bookmarked). And the ratio of user communities of the respective products (somewhere between 10:1 and 100:1? I dont know...) worsened things even further. Only after the the browser's rebranding to Firefox did the search results become usable again.

Re:Surprising?

[Hal_Porter]

Maybe g-mail was bought by Microsoft and they asked for $171 Billion dollars to license the trademark to Google. Muhahaha.

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

But the problem, at least in the US, is that firstly, to hold a trademark, I must actively defend it. Meaning that to demonstrate that defense, I have to C&D or sue every ISP and cola manufacturer that uses it, so that when some slimy car company opens up and tries to usurp it from me, I have a legal leg to stand on.

Wrong. You must actively defend it within the domain you hold it in. Not only do you not need to defend it in an unrelated domain like cola or ISPs, but it's entirely possible someone else can hold a valid trademark on the same term in that domain. This is what happened with Apple Computer and Apple Corps Records. Apple Computer started getting into music and Apple Corps sued them.

Re:Surprising?

[POTSandPANS]

Yes, Google does have a lot of money, probably enough to win. Google is not microsoft, they walked away instead of killing another company over a name. If you remember, there was a program called windows defender, but microsoft wanted to call their anti-spyware program windows defender. Microsoft threatened to sue, the guy gave up the name just because he couldn't afford to fight microsoft for it.

Before you say Google lost, maybe you should consider that they decided to walk away..

Re:Surprising?

[jesterzog]

It just means that all of that trademark hysteria of the last one and a half decades, this "get outta my intellectual property!" attitude, it all hurts progress. Because, at the end of the day, isn't progress what it is all about? Shouldn't we just shut up, roll up our sleeves and start making our global village a better place instead of worrying about not hurting someones feelings or not breaking some law? I am really sick of every good initiative being sabotaged by someone who "owns" some "intellectual property".

I can't comment on this particular case with much knowledge, but if I spent a lot of time, money and effort to build up a local product around a particular name, I'd be really annoyed if someone else came in from overseas and usurped all that effort making it worthless. This is particularly the case if their only claim to having the name was that they happened to be a company 1000+ times larger than my own (eg. Google, Microsoft) with expensive lawyers, and they thought it'd be a nice name for their own service. Businesses and organisations shouldn't get special treatment over others just because they happen to be well known and (in some cases) liked by a lot of people.

Clearly there should be some kind of common sense approach to trademarks, without clearly defining what that actually means, but I don't think that simply stomping on anyone who happens to already be using a name that a corporation like Google might want is the way to go. If these guys were using 'gmail' in Germany before Google created its own service, and if they were using it for something that might be confused with Google's service (which they clearly were), and if they notified Google within a reasonable amount of time, then I think they're completely within their rights to take this action. Good for them.

It's part of doing global business that some names might already be being used in some countries. The people at Google should know this as much as every other corporation and plan for it accordingly. If Google picked a global name that might eventually send more business to a possible competitor, then it's Google's own fault.

Re:Surprising?

[phreakincool]

I wouldn't doubt it. They bought Hotmail, right?

Re:Surprising?

[moronoxyd]

Du you pronounce "gmail" and "g-mail" differently?
I don't.

Re:Surprising?

[damista]

Dunno about you but I pronounce "gmail" and "G-Mail...und die Post geht richtig ab" VERY differently.

Re:Surprising?

[WingedHorse]

Not only this but concider just how many bad jokes would be in /. if there were more computer related thingies with the same name. I mean, remember how long message chains there were about the "All trees grow at 70 degrees" even though anyone who thought about it 5 seconds knew it most likely wasn't 70 celsius (or centigrades or whatever) and certainly wasn't 70 Kelvin.)? Well, imagine that kind of message chains every time there are news about the web browser or e-mail client.

Re:Surprising?

[Saint Fnordius]

I think that is perhaps the best example of why trademarks are important, and why the name of the browser was changed again: having the same name as an unrelated business is allowable but taking the same name as a related product may make it harder for the lesser-known product to maintain a reasonable public image.

Hypothetically, it would have been the same if, say, some company made finance management services called "Outlook" before Microsoft introduced their mail client. In this imaginary situation, Microsoft's product is not in the same branch, but the older "Outlook" would have been suddenly shunted to obscurity, as everybody would only talk about the Microsoft application. We could even take this mind exercise further, and imagine that Microsoft did this to suffocate the older finance software before introducing their own finance management services (again, I'm just making this up to illustrate why trademarks are important).

Re:Surprising?

[lobStar]

Except if you run a service called Gmail yourself, that is.

Re:Surprising?

[jorghis]

Um, no, they tried to fight the little guy who held the rights to it for years and eventually the court ended up ruling against them. "Not being evil" would have been if they had walked away as soon as they realized that another guy legitimately owned the name gmail. Google's failure to crush the little guy in this instance was not for lack of trying.

In the case of windows defender at least MS had an argument that the third party had no right to use the name "windows" as part of their trademark. Google didnt even have that.

Basically the MS case in this instance is less evil than the Google case. It is amusing to see all the fanboys try to find some reason why google was being morally superior in this instance though.

Re:Surprising?

[Saint Fnordius]

As the two anonymous cowards pointed out, trademarks are not global. When applying for a trademark, the business in which the trademark will be used must be listed. So when applying for a trademark for Sephir, your original trademark only covers transportation. A Sephir ISP or cola could co-exist as long as neither brand makes an attempt to suggest that a relation exists. Doing something like "Sephir Cola, the perfect drink when driving your Fnord Sephir" would be a no-no. The same goes for "official" licensing: since Sephir Cola exists, Gurps Beverages can't offer "Gurps Cola Sephir Collector's Edition".

So since successful trademarks can expand into licensed merchandise, it is prudent to meet those with similar names, and define beforehand who gets what sector. Of course, this won't prevent legal battles down the road (see Apple Records versus Apple Computer)...

Re:Surprising?

[david.gilbert]

yup. Frankly, if someone had mentioned 'gmail' to me with no explanation back in 2003, I'd have assumed that it was a google product. But then I don't live in Germany.

Yup. Frankly, if someone had mentioned 'Germany' to me with no explanation back in 2003, I'd have assumed that it was a Google product. But then I don't live in reality.

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

How is this insightful? Funny maybe, but insightful!?

Re:Surprising?

[badran]

Why didn't you use "Firebird +Database -Browser"

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

You *do* know, why they've choosen that name in that episode, don't you?

Re:Surprising?

[VJ42]

What do State Transition diagrams have to do with this? ;P

Re:Surprising?

[KDR_11k]

No normal person would include the tagline in their speech therefore a listener would be confused which g(-)mail they mean.

Re:Surprising?

[Oktober Sunset]

Oh if only, I've been wanting Google to make an Ermany application for ages.

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

But the problem, at least in the US, is that firstly, to hold a trademark, I must actively defend it. Meaning that to demonstrate that defense, I have to C&D or sue every ISP and cola manufacturer that uses it, so that when some slimy car company opens up and tries to usurp it from me, I have a legal leg to stand on. I'm quite sure that you are mistaken. This may be a notion that has been foisted upon you by a nation of layers, but the truth is, if you have your "sephir" trademark registered for "transportation", "automobiles" and maybe, because you assumed someone might use one for races, "sports", you will not have to move a single finger if someone starts communication, food or whatever products that are not in those areas or at least closely related areas. Anyone claiming otherwise is probably a trademark lawyer on a campaign for job security.

Re:Surprising?

[jacquesm]

you make a good point, but I think you should qualify it with the relative amounts of greedy bastards / deeply caring people.

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

Whoooooosh

Re:Surprising?

[dreamchaser]

Where did I say that investors were evil? I just said it is what it is. The first motive of any publically held company is to make a profit. Everything else is secondary. Google is no different than any other company in this regard. That's all. I didn't say they WERE evil, just that ethical concerns come second to profit. That's how it works. It is neither good nor bad; it just is.

Re:Surprising?

[bhtooefr]

The domain was created in 1995, according to a whois on it...

Of course, that was before Google even existed... so I wonder when Google obtained it.

Re:Surprising?

[Foolishstar]

yup. Frankly, if someone had mentioned 'gmail' to me with no explanation back in 2003, I'd have assumed that it was a google product. But then I don't live in Germany.

Yup. Frankly, if someone had mentioned 'Germany' to me with no explanation back in 2003, I'd have assumed that it was a Google product. But then I don't live in reality. Genius!!!

Re:Surprising?

[FishAdmin]

Actually, even if it WASN'T meant as ironic, it IS the Old English spelling of the word, and it's possible it's still in use in the UK. I'm just saying.

Re:Surprising?

[ChameleonDave]

Actually, even if it WASN'T meant as ironic, it IS the Old English spelling of the word, and it's possible it's still in use in the UK. I'm just saying. That is jaw-droppingly ignorant in at least three different ways.

Re:Surprising?

[geminidomino]

In the age of URLs, when there are myriad companies who actually include "dot com" as part of their name? You bet your ass I do.

Sending someone to gmail.com would be "gee mail dot com" and g-mail.com would be "gee dash mail dot com".

 

Re:Surprising?

[bytesex]

This is the problem with people running international companies that rely on a single letter to brand all their products - you can only have 26 of them. Let's see where we are with that; 'g' is for Google, 'j' is for Sun, 'i' is for Steve.. Hey ! We can make a nursery rhyme out of this !

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

To compete with googles new Enius product, I've started developing my own brand. The first of many p-brand products, I'm announcing pEnius!

Re:Surprising?

[residieu]

Tasticles was already taken?

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

I named my company "Computers.com", unfortunately that domain was already taken, so I was forced to settle for computers-dot-com.com

Re:Surprising?

[Crazyswedishguy]

No, but over 19,000 is relatively big. If you care to check:
Google Finance

Re:Surprising?

[Crazyswedishguy]

Also, $15-$20B annual revenue is what most people would consider gigantic, even if the number of employees isn't anywhere close to that of Walmart, or other giants such as GM or GE.

Re:Surprising?

[clone53421]

Are you German? I didn't think so.

The German alphabet, FYI, is pronounced ah, bay, say, day, ay, eff, GAY.

Re:Surprising?

[thsths]

> The name "gmail" was already taken for an e-mail provider.

If only it were. G-Mailer is a snail-mailer with an electronic interface, that also handles e-mail, marketed for businesses. So while it can be used to handle email, there is very little danger of it being confused with GoogleMail. I for one am still baffled by the court verdict, but I have to concede that it is "legal".

Re:Surprising?

[MadnessASAP]

I think that perhaps this http://investor.google.com/ipo_letter.html would be a good read for you. It definitely both establishes Google position towards ethical issues and gives Google something to point to when a shareholder complains about Google not taking the path to greatest profit when confronted with an ethical issue. It's also worth pointing out that it gives the shareholders something to use against Google should they ever choose the less ethical choice.

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

And Google should rename it to goomail

- Peder

Re:Surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Google is probably one of ten, maybe twenty companies that are more concerned about morals and ethics than profits"

Oh Really? So all of Google's development in the business and financial markets are for moral and ethical reasons. Yeah, that's like building a hospital to host sporting events. You are an idiot.

Dupe

[yohanes]

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/31/2116245

Re:"Bummer"

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"Oh, look at poor Google. It's like a wayward schoolchild who lost his iPod."

"Poor Google's users" is what you'd be thinking if you had actually put some thought into it.

FFS

[zoomshorts]

Call it GoogleMail , not rocket science.

Re:FFS

[Xelios]

That's what they call it now, with the web address mail.google.com. I think it's a better fit for Germany anyway, Gmail as pronounced in german would be "gay-mail".

Re:FFS

[xaxa]

They call it GoogleMail in the UK too, and have done for some time, because they lost a more-or-less identical trademark case here too. If I go to gmail.com I'm redirected to a site where all the branding reads 'Google Mail'.

Re:FFS

[nem75]

Gmail as pronounced in german would be "gay-mail".

No, it would be "gay-mile". Yea, laugh if you want to.

But people over here are so absorbed in talking "hip" and modern, using anglicisms wherever possible (unknowingly, most of the time), that just about everyone would call it "gee-mail" instinctively anyway. Sad, but true.

Dasterdly Deutchmen

[Anonymous Coward]

A look at gmail.de nets some strange foreign ramblings. The first bit which says

'G-mailer versenden und empfangen ihre elektronischen Nachrichten und echten Briefe über www.gmail.de und sparen so Zeit und Geld (Briefporto ab 2 Cent!) und entlasten unsere Umwelt.'

Now, it's been awhile since I was in high school, but that roughly translates to:

'G-mailer verily and emphatically this here electronic new right and etches uber briefs www.gmail.de and spares so this and gold (portable briefs at 2 cents) and enlisted users underwhelmed'

Clearly, they want to use gmail.de to sell personalized underpants at 2 cents per unit, despite the fact that wearers are not too impressed.

These krauts get to use gmail.de to sell their kinky feitsh-wear while the smart folks at Google get nothing? Remind me again who won the war!

Re:Dasterdly Deutchmen

[brunokummel]

LOL !! I almost pissed my pants with your translations skills!!! Best comment of the semester!

Re:Dasterdly Deutchmen

[Dionysus]

Remind me again who won the war!

The English?

Re:Dasterdly Deutchmen

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, what's the big deal? Isn't there gmail.com? Why would Google want to put their services on each top-level domain? Just detect the web browser's language settings and present the German content.

Re:Dasterdly Deutchmen

[indi0144]

Soviet Russia.. because in soviet Russia war wons you!

Re:Dasterdly Deutchmen

[itsme1234]

Why would Google want to put their services on each top-level domain? Just detect the web browser's language settings and present the German content.

THAT is the whole point: google never tried to take over gmail.de or g-mail.de or however is called. The "german" gmail claimed in court that somehow gmail.com used in Germany is affecting their trademark. The immediate effect (that was going on for years) was that you couldn't get a gmail.com (notice .com not DE) email if you come with a German IP - you would get a googlemail.com account instead and everything will be mostly transparent (gmail.com will go to googlemail.com, emails will reach you even if sent to name@gmail.com instead of name@googlemail.com and so on). Now it is even worse: gmail.com goes to this text page that says something like "you should go to mail.google.com but we are not allowed to give you a link here" (and presumably they can't redirect you automatically as before). YES, google is scared/forced not to to put a link to mail.google.com on gmail.com (of course they own both domains). Is this messed up or what?

Re:Dasterdly Deutchmen

[Anonymous Coward]

(-1, Whoosh)

Re:Dasterdly Deutchmen

[Anonymous Coward]

Strange, I guess that the German language has been updated since you went to school...right?

The Babelfish translation is somewhat different:

G-more mailer and receive their electronic messages and genuine letter dispatch over www.gmail.de and save in such a way time and money (letter postage starting from 2 cent!) and relieve our environment.

Nice to see that the Big [No] Evil corporation can't always crush the little guys just trying to make a living ;-)

Re:Dasterdly Deutchmen

[Anonymous Coward]

Certainly not the French!

Re:Dasterdly Deutchmen

[Anonymous Coward]

G-mailer verily and emphatically this here electronic new right and etches uber briefs www.gmail.de and spares so this and gold (portable briefs at 2 cents) and enlisted users underwhelmed

Your highschool German has amazing similarities with a Babelfish translation... Let's try this (not German, but living in Germany for some years):

G-mail users send and receive their electronic messages and real letters through www.gmail.de, thus saving both time and money (postal stamps cost at least 2 cents!) and reduce the burden on the environment.

Silly Krauts

[RipTatermen]

I'm sure Googlegemeinschaftelektronischepostsystem will be just as catchy.

Re:Silly Krauts

[GeneralEmergency]

You win.

Yours was longer.

Re:Silly Krauts

[RipTatermen]

Ausgezeichnet!

Re:Silly Krauts

[WillAffleckUW]

I'm sure Googlegemeinschaftelektronischepostsystem will be just as catchy. I think you meant Googlegemeineschaftelelektronischepostesystemisch ...

Re:Silly Krauts

[hairyfeet]

Nah...It just isn't catchy enough. Now GooglehosenOktoberfestenwienerschnitzelemailen.com captures that fun loving German spirit! And if they use it without paying me I'll sue!

Re:Silly Krauts

[Red Flayer]

That should be Göglegemeinschaftelektronischepostsytemische.

Won't someone think of the umlaut?

Re:Silly Krauts

[RipTatermen]

Well, I'm fairly sure that -s System is a noun, meaning 'system', and systemisch is an adjective, meaning 'systemic', but I was mostly into German for the Kindereggs, so maybe you're right.

Re:Silly Krauts

[Opportunist]

Can I just remember the IP address? It's easier to memorize.

Re:Silly Krauts

[maxume]

Just register "wasgmail.com" and set it up to redirect you to GooglehosenOktoberfestenwienerschnitzelemailen.com

Re:Silly Krauts

[Annymouse Cowherd]

Goegel?

Re:Silly Krauts

[Anonymous Coward]

That should be Göglegemeinschaftelektronischepostsytemische.

Won't someone think of the umlaut?

Well that someone clearly isn't you! I mean come on! You only used one umlaut. Where's the love?

Re:Silly Krauts

[D Ninja]

Yours was longer. That's what she said.

Re:Silly Krauts

[Sneeka2]

That's what she said. Yes, I hope so.

I really do. =_=

Re:Silly Krauts

[BluBrick]

Google mail user1: "What does that URL mean?"

Google mail user2: "I don't know - he hasn't got to the verb yet!"

Re:Silly Krauts

[Anonymous Coward]

Mein Gott!

Re:Silly Krauts

[n3tcat]

ö is expanded to "oe" not "oo"

What you wrote sounds closer to "gurgle" than Google.

Re:Silly Krauts

[xaxa]

Gòøglègêmêínschàftélèktrõnïschèpõstsytëmïsch

Re:Silly Krauts

[KDR_11k]

If you can work a Donaudampfschifffahrt into that somehow you win.

Re:Silly Krauts

[WillAffleckUW]

Well, let's settle on Googlegemeineschaftelelektronischepostesystem ...

Re:Silly Krauts

[clone53421]

Hmm, this actually reminded me how easy it would be to edit your hosts file and make "gmail.com" point to mail.google.com... assuming, of course, the server isn't actually checking the URL to make sure it's not the verboten gmail!

What's wrong with DerGoogleElektronischePost?

[GeneralEmergency]

Uhhhh, on second thought...nevermind.

Re:What's wrong with DerGoogleElektronischePost?

[Sneeka2]

DieElektronischeGooglePost
</GermanGrammarNazi>

Re:What's wrong with DerGoogleElektronischePost?

[jacquesm]

I think the 'German' is redundant ;)

'Gmail' brand sucks everywhere guys

[QuantumG]

They should have called it "Google Mail" from the beginning. I still have people asking me what the hell gmail is.

Re:'Gmail' brand sucks everywhere guys

[W00dyW00d]

You can give people that email too. So if you have Slashdot@gmail.com then Slashdot@googlemail.com works too.

Re:'Gmail' brand sucks everywhere guys

[maxume]

Don't forget about slashdot@gmail.com and s.l.a.s.h.d.o.t@gmail.com.

Also s.l.a.s.h.d.o.t+your_mom@gmail.com.

gmail.de google prank?

[ireallylovelinux]

Gmail Paper How "Gmail Paper" works

At about 10:00 PM Pacific time (where Google has its headquarters) the day before April 1, 2007, Google changed the login page for Gmail to announce a new service called Gmail Paper. The service offered to allow users of Google's free webmail service to add e-mails to a "Paper Archive," which Google would print (on "96% post-consumer organic soybean sputum") and mail via traditional post. The service would be free, supported by bold, red advertisements printed on the back of the printed messages. Image attachments would also be printed on high-quality glossy paper, though MP3 and WAV files would not be printed. The page detailing more information about the service features photographs of Ian Spiro and Carrie Kemper, current employees of Google. Also featured are Product Marketing Managers of Gmail Anna-Christina Douglas, and Kevin Systrom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google's_hoaxes#Gmail_Paper

Just like a corporation

[Anonymous Coward]

Google Germany's spokesman said on Monday that the action was being taken 'even though we believe we're not legally obliged to do so.'

These days few, if any, corporations seem to think they are legally obligated to follow the law.

This works

[Konster]

De-Mail works for me. ;)

Buy the company takeover the trademark

[W00dyW00d]

They should of just bought the company and took the trademark. They might have some cash to spare?

Re:Buy the company takeover the trademark

[Anonymous Coward]

They tried and Daniel Giersch denied them.

Guess what, if they offer you a ton of money for something, you DON'T have to take it!

Re:Buy the company takeover the trademark

[Samah]

You mean they should *have* taken the Microsoft stance on things? Given Google's recent dealings (or lack of) with Microsoft it's my guess (and only speculation) that they're not that kind of corporation (and no, I'm not a Google "fanboi").

Re:Buy the company takeover the trademark

[justleavealonemmmkay]

Is "of" a special form of the verb "to have" ? Is "took" the past participle of the verb "to take" ?

Re:Buy the company takeover the trademark

[XHIIHIIHX]

Here's 10 million dollars for something you don't really need and will never make money with...

Yeah, they'll really be enjoying that decision in about 10 years. Dumbasses.

Re:Buy the company takeover the trademark

[Gnavpot]

Is "of" a special form of the verb "to have" ?

On /. it is. I think there are too many native English speakers here.

Those of us who are not native English speakers don't make those mistakes.

It's just a name

[Haoie]

Just call it the New Gmail, ala New Coke.

Oh wait, maybe not.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Hardly the end of the world

[exley]

FTFA, this is the message GMail/Google Mail users are now getting in Germany:

"We can't provide service under the Gmail name in Germany; we're called Google Mail here instead. If you're traveling in Germany, you can access your mail at http://mail.google.com./ Oh, and we'd like to link the URL above, but we're not allowed to do that either. Bummer."

Users are then forced to copy and paste the URL into their browsers to access their Gmail account.

People will have to copy and paste... Oh no, those poor users!

Re:Hardly the end of the world

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"People will have to copy and paste... Oh no, those poor users!"

It means an email address change for them when the domain is shut down. Yes, those poor users.

Man, even people reading the f'n article aren't engaging their brains today.

Re:Hardly the end of the world

[RiotingPacifist]

copy AND paste? you my friend need to upgrade to linux, here its just middle click.

Re:Hardly the end of the world

[Anonymous Coward]

here its just middle click Which also happens to be referred to as "Copy" (highlight) and "Paste" (middle click).
 
Though I would argue whether this is an upgrade at all. Why trade:
 
  control-c/control-v

• standard in all/nearly all applications for any content type

for
 
  highlight/middle click

• one of two clipboards (X is one, clipboard provided by desktop environment other). Finding and remembering which you need to use where and which works best for which use.
  
• highlight/middle click only works with text
  
• have to keep the source application open otherwise you lose what you "copied"
  
• highlight the URL in your browser location bar to paste the new URL you just copied from the google website? Damn, just overwrote what you "copied" first with the "copy" of what you were intending to replace.

Re:Hardly the end of the world

[Anonymous Coward]

What domain are you referring to? Gmail.com isn't going anywhere.

Users in Germany now have to use mail.google.com instead of gmail.com
Everyone else can continue to use gmail.com the same as before.

Man, even people reading the f'n article aren't engaging their brains today. Indeed.

Re:Hardly the end of the world

[RiotingPacifist]

We'll ill start by saying wooooooosh, but as you got some basics wrong anyway ill answer a few of your points

Though I would argue whether this is an upgrade at all. Why trade: No trade both are still there.

control-c/control-v you mean highlight/control-c/move/control-v
for highlight/move/middleclick
well if your using your mouse then the latter is quicker otherwise the former is probably quicker, but there is no sacrifice anyway.

one of two clipboards (X is one, clipboard provided by desktop environment other). Finding and remembering which you need to use where and which works best for which use. KDEs clipboard tool, keeps them in sync and id guess gnome can do the same

highlight/middle click only works with text

Not true, highlight middle click should work with any medium, infact i dont quite understand why xorg hasnt implemented a standard drag and drop as the middle click system was pretty sweet. Nothing is stored in the buffer until you middle click at which point the program you click into(A) asks the program with the selection(B) what formats the selection is avalible in, then the A picks the best format and B sends the selection in that format

have to keep the source application open otherwise you lose what you "copied"

Again kde works around this limitation but obviously you lose the advantage of the previous point

highlight the URL in your browser location bar to paste the new URL you just copied from the google website? Damn, just overwrote what you "copied" first with the "copy" of what you were intending to replace.

touche, that is ofc assuming that the user is too dumb to paste into somewhere valid
*the page (if autoscroll is off)
*the tabbar (or even the tab depending on the browser
*the site favicon (well in firefox 3 anyway not tested in other browsers

but this is all abit pointless as
*both methods of copy and paste are valid
*i dont live in germany
*for me select/middle click on the favicon is quicker than select/cntrl+v/f6/cntrl+c/enter but thats just me

Re:Hardly the end of the world

[Meski]

But the domain is in the USA ... Or am I missing something?

Re:Hardly the end of the world

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

My bad, I thought Google owned gmail.de. I guess that's why the trademark thing came up. :P

Re:Hardly the end of the world

[badpazzword]

Gnome does not sync the copy-paste buffer and the middleclick buffer.

It's a plus if you ask me.

Re:Hardly the end of the world

[Lars T.]

What domain are you referring to? Gmail.com isn't going anywhere.

Users in Germany now have to use mail.google.com instead of gmail.com Everyone else can continue to use gmail.com the same as before.

Googlemail.com still works, too.

Re:Hardly the end of the world

[clone53421]

I think they should link to both "Google Mail" and "G-Mail... und die Post geht richtig ab". Then they could track the clicks and show that 99.99999% of Germans were trying to get to "Google Mail" and this whole argument is a load of crock.

Granted they'd have to be allowed to link... which they apparently aren't... which is dumb.

Gmail can be confusing in German...

[Anonymous Coward]

G pronounced in German sounds like "gay". A few years ago when I told friends that I got a G-Mail beta account, they made fun of me and asked what my girlfriends thinks about that...

Re:Gmail can be confusing in German...

[thedarkone64]

what my girlfriends thinks about that.

You see, that's how we know you're lying.

Re:Gmail can be confusing in German...

[D Ninja]

ROTFLMAO Mod this guy up! Genius!

Re:Gmail can be confusing in German...

[RealGrouchy]

That's why I never venture onto .de sites without first turning on my G-dar.

- RG>

Re:Gmail can be confusing in German...

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, what did he think?

Re:Gmail can be confusing in German...

[aCC]

G pronounced in German sounds like "gay". A few years ago when I told friends that I got a G-Mail beta account, they made fun of me and asked what my girlfriends thinks about that...

What? That must have been a situation of an English speaker pronouncing the letter wrongly; probably just having read somewhere that it's close to the pronunciation of "gay". If you hear a German pronounce the letter, you will hear that it's nowhere near "gay".

You can compare this to people saying that the English "th" sounds like "s".

Re:Gmail can be confusing in German...

[houghi]

So? Gay is not a German word and the market is clearly for Germany.

When I was about 8 I realized that different languages exist and that sometimes words in one language mean something different in another and sometimes even in the same language, but in other parts of the country/world. (truck, billion, ...)

And yes, I spoke more then one language at that age.

Now start laughing like a little boy about this magazine sold in every newspaper stand in Belgium. (hihi is says pee)

Re:Gmail can be confusing in German...

[gwniobombux]

What? That must have been a situation of an English speaker pronouncing the letter wrongly; probably just having read somewhere that it's close to the pronunciation of "gay". If you hear a German pronounce the letter, you will hear that it's nowhere near "gay". You can compare this to people saying that the English "th" sounds like "s".

Not necessarily. If conversely a German speaker pronounces the English word "gay" with a slightly exaggerated German accent it would be pretty close to the letter "g" in German.

Re:Gmail can be confusing in German...

[Anonymous Coward]

And can anyone guess what 'hot-mail' sounds like? A gay friend of mine got in quite some trouble with his parents over having a 'hot male' email address...

Re:Gmail can be confusing in German...

[Anonymous Coward]

I've studied German slightly and AFAIK G is pronounced geeh. So the only way it would sound (like)gay is if you pronounce gay like an inbred scotsman.

Re:Gmail can be confusing in German...

[XHIIHIIHX]

G pronounced in German sounds like "gay". A few years ago when I told friends that I got a master beta account, they made fun of me and asked what my girlfriends thinks about that...

There fixed that for you.

Re:Gmail can be confusing in German...

[Antarius]

You can compare this to people saying that the English "th" sounds like "s". For what it's worth, in Te Reo MÄori "wh" is pronounced "f."

Last time I spoke with a Kiwi, I'm sure that every second word was "whuck"

Cheers,

Ant

Giersch hardly needs the money

[Anonymous Coward]

From http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6115056.html:

Crediting his ventures, he said he is in a "good place" financially and splits his time between well-appointed homes in Los Angeles and Monaco. He and wife Kelly Rutherford, an American television actress, have a baby on the way.

How much effect does this really have?

[booyabazooka]

I don't understand the point of the trademark technicalities in this case. The Germans already know that Google's email product is called Gmail. Everyone they know in the rest of the world will still be calling it Gmail.

The <title> on some browsers may change, but will anyone stop calling it Gmail?

Re:How much effect does this really have?

[pimpimpim]

While I'm glad for the guy getting his justice done, I'm not sure if there's any winner here. I know many people who use gmail in Germany, but a lot of them are not Germans. Most likely google, using gmail.com or googlemail.com will not get a big userbase anyway, just because of not being originally german. Popular free e-mail accounts here are the german-based gmx.de and the german-based web.de, who are real ripoffs by uninvitedly switching your account to the "Gold" account, after which they start to ill you. Despite them being such assholes, they remain popular, just because people are used to it since the early days of free e-mail.

Google could have gotten additional users out here if they would have gmail.de, how many more users compared to googlemail.de we will never know. But the biggest downside is the brand confusion: googlemail, gmail, what is what? The german owner of gmail.de will also not be helped much by this, because there will be two kinds of people: the ones that have never heard of gmail.de and live a happy live never finding out. And the ones that know that gmail is a google product and don't want to confuse others, or don't want to risk having their mail at a small provider

Interesting point: To register at gmail.de you have to send a copy of your identity pass, I kid you not. And if I understand correctly, only e-mails within gmail.de users are allowed. crazy

Re:How much effect does this really have?

[Anonymous Coward]

No shit! gmx is teh sux0rz!!!!!

Re:How much effect does this really have?

[moronoxyd]

Popular free e-mail accounts here are the german-based gmx.de and the german-based web.de, who are real ripoffs by uninvitedly switching your account to the "Gold" account, after which they start to ill you.

Strange.
I'm using GMX vor like 11 years now, and they never uninvitedly switched either of my accounts to Gold. Neither did they do this for any of my friends/family members who use GMX.
The same goes for Web.de.

Maybe, just maybe, you or whoever told you that story chose to participate in the free test drive for one of the Premium options and forgot to cancel that on time?

Interesting point: To register at gmail.de you have to send a copy of your identity pass, I kid you not. And if I understand correctly, only e-mails within gmail.de users are allowed. crazy

The same goes for almost all freemail providers in Germany.

Plus, Gmail.de offers not just plain email, but connects real (snail-) mail and email.
So they need to have a little more information about you.

But I guess it was to much to ask of you to click the "So funktioniert Gmail" ("that's how Gmail works") link.

Re:How much effect does this really have?

[pimpimpim]

gmx not, web.de does, just search for web.de and "abzockerei" ;) I have personal experience with this stuff, web.de is really trying to earn money in very unethical ways.

Just one of the many examples, I guess about a hundred people on this page alone:http://www.teltarif.de/forum/x-internet/2145-1.html BTW, just ignoring the Mahnung is the best solution there. They will not bring it to court, as there will be evidence enough that the trap people in pressing the wron button, which happens to end up in electronically ordering a contract and accepting the AGB.

I read the gmail.de site, and don't really think that his all-in-one solution is very convenient, but well, who am I to judge. As far as I know you normally don't send a copy of your pass to get an e-mail account, didn't have to do that to get my DSL, to register a domain name, nor to get an account at online stores in Germany. For mobile phones you need to give the number, and when registering at a bank. But maybe I missed out on something here.

Laptop, you insensitive clod

[tepples]

here its just middle click. Does a typical laptop's built-in pointing device have enough buttons for UNIX-style copy and paste?

Re:Laptop, you insensitive clod

[RiotingPacifist]

Most (i think all) touchpads will pickup two finger taps as middle click ( 3 finger is right click )
If it doesn't (not sure if that's even possible tbh), if your not on a mac, clicking both left and right at the same time will simulate a middle click.

Re:Laptop, you insensitive clod

[emjay88]

touchpads will pickup two finger taps as middle click
Not a double-click?

Re:Laptop, you insensitive clod

[Hal_Porter]

here its just middle click. Does a typical laptop's built-in pointing device have enough buttons for UNIX-style copy and paste? Someone should make a BuckyBits USB HID device. It would look a bit like a external numeric keypad, except you could program it to generate all the funny meta characters.

Oh yeah, and it would have ePaper displays on each key too. You'd provide some open source software to customise the layout and keytops.

You could sell it on ThinkGeek. Though I'd worry that there weren't enough people interested to make it worthwhile. ePaper displays are a bit hard to find too, and hence probably rather expensive.

Re:Laptop, you insensitive clod

[AI0867]

(Two finger) taps.
not
Two (finger taps).

Meaning, tapping the touchpad with two fingers at the same time.

Re:Laptop, you insensitive clod

[badpazzword]

As long as it features a left and a right mouse button then yes.

Click with both left and right buttons == Middle click (in GNOME).

Re:Laptop, you insensitive clod

[geminidomino]

wow. Learn something new every day. That's kind of cool!

Cue trademark owners selling for profit in...

[Smoke2Joints]

3....2....1....

Mob rule

[billcopc]

I'd rather see them ban German users from Gmail entirely. If the Germans really want Google Mail, they're welcome to kill the G-mail dude while shooting violent porn in an abandoned missile factory.

No more annoying G-mail guy = Gmail for everyone. ...yeah, like I could trademark B-mail... uhhhm (gallops to the patent office)

easy fix...

[Anonymous Coward]

go back to the 'ol dot com days and register "gmail.com" problem solved...

Re:easy fix...

[WingedHorse]

I have a friend who registers domains in the hundreds (yeah, yeah, I know how /. feels about that.) and those included a local (ending in our country code) domain of a *very* popular site you have likely all visited lately. The large company owning that site practically sent him a message "Will you sell it for 2000 euros or will we try this in court?" He naturally sold it, knowing he would have no chance were it ever taken to court but apparently the company just wanted to get things done quickly. Now, he also owns the local domain of a certain large social network mostly out of curiosity to see what they would do. He really knows that did anyone bother to take it to court he would lose and doesn't really need that money (he earns rather well from his websites) but well, I guess everyone has a hobby of some sort.

Re:easy fix...

[KDR_11k]

Do us a favour and shoot him, k?

Re:easy fix...

[Anonymous Coward]

You may already know, but I just want to reiterate that your friend is an asshole. With any luck, he'll come down with some terminal illness, for which there is an experimental cure, but the company who owns the copyright on it want $500,000 per dose, and his medical insurance won't touch it.

Also, the experimental cure has a side effect of making your limbs fall off.

Google is Gigantic

[MushMouth]

first of all it is 20K not 5K,
secondly their market cap at $171B is one of the largest in the world,
so yes they are Gigantic!

Re:Google is Gigantic

[Capitalist Piggy]

How times have changed in just a few years!

Hmph

[c0y]

The problem as I see it is the victor's.

Gmail is still known the world over as Google's identity, and outside of Germany this changes nothing.

Inside of Germany, I imagine this company has pissed off a lot of people, who might have been potential customers.

If I learned tomorrow that I had inherited the intellectual property rights to a new kind of Soda, and that my ancestors had a claim on the name "Pepsi" I wouldn't be such a jackass as to try to sell my soda as Pepsi. That's only going to cause confusion and end badly for me.

No, being a reasonable person, I'd hire a lawyer, and have a sitdown with the folks at Pepsi about buying out my rights. Since this scenario involves an unexpected windfall, I wouldn't even be terribly insistent on anything more than a one-time payout that would let me live the rest of my life comfortably. That is, I wouldn't push for the maximum dollar value I thought I could get, just "enough".

Re:Hmph

[Malc]

Sounds like free marketing for gmail.de. They get to ride on Google's brand name. People outside of the small clique here on /. are surprisingly dim about tech and computers, so if they hear of gmail, then they might not know the difference until long after they've signed up. If they're happy with the service I doubt they'll complain.

Re:Hmph

[moronoxyd]

Inside of Germany, I imagine this company has pissed off a lot of people, who might have been potential customers.

Why? Germans can still use GoogeMail.
Officially, they get addresse that end on @googlemail.com, but erverybody knows one can still use the same address with @gmail.com

So no harm, really.

No, being a reasonable person, I'd hire a lawyer, and have a sitdown with the folks at Pepsi about buying out my rights.

You're missing the point: There is already a email service named G-Mail in Germany.
That service is used by people.
It's not like that guy just had the trademark laying around, not using it.

Why should I sell my profitable business, when some other company starts a similar service and is too stupid to check whether anybody else (me) uses that name already?

Re:Hmph

[Kalriath]

Except that he had a service called "Gmail" before Google had a service called "Gmail".

As such, your entire post is completely irrelevant.

I love slashdot comments

[Anonymous Coward]

A steady flow of people shitting out their opinions like they were the word of god, man it stinks in here.......

Re:I love slashdot comments

[pandrijeczko]

Don't let the door hit you in the arse as you leave.

Or they could have just called it

[Agent__Smith]

Farfrommailin

Re:You're Right, BUT...

[Anonymous Coward]

Add into the mix various international treaties, and some guy in China can trademark-squat on a couple of names and when you try to start your business, you may find yourself getting sued the moment you have enough money to justify it. Nice bit of jingo you got there. The opposite, of course, might also be true: you squat some names, and when some poor hard-working sod in China finally has got enough money to make it worthwhile, you sue him. But wait, Americans Don't Do That(tm), right?

That being said, you cannot actually squat trademarks: you gotta use 'em or you'll lose 'em.

typo

[pimpimpim]

I ment: "after which they start to bill you". Though "ill" is sort of fitting. web.de works a bit like the RIAA, they try to get money from you, wave around with their contract clause, and just hope no-one lets it go to their attorney, because in fact they have no real grounds to stand on.

Second

[daemonburrito]

Mod me down if you must.

Parent is right on. Too bad you can't be modded up any higher.

Let's move past worrying about our "Intellectual Property" and get to working out the cool stuff.

Re:Second

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod me down if you must.

Parent is right on. Too bad you can't be modded up any higher.

Let's move past worrying about our "Intellectual Property" and get to working out the cool stuff.

Spoken like a true /. user who hasn't ever invented anything.

Re:Second oops

[daemonburrito]

I meant a parliamentary second of "best post I've ever read on slashdot ever".

Totally got confused as to where I was replying.

Sorry.

Re:You're Right, BUT...

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice bit of jingo you got there.

Hypotheticals are just that. Put your oppression meter down Progressive-Boy, you're going to hurt yourself.

Das ist richtig

[rayteraz]

Das ist richtig. That is right.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Trademark Squatting

[moronoxyd]

But we have international treaties with countries in Europe and in Asia where trademark squatting is possible--there is no "use in commerce" requirement, only a registration requirement.

As far as i know, you have to use a trademark in Germany (and probably the rest of Europe) within a given time after registering the trademark, otherwise it gets nullified by the trademark office on request.

Mod parent and uncles down (-1: Whoosh)

[Gnavpot]

Your highschool German has amazing similarities with a Babelfish translation

No.

It is not a translation.

It is not a Babelfish translation.

It is a very funny attempt at replacing German words with roughly identically looking English words with a totally different meaning.

I enjoyed it. Because I got the point.