Slashdot Mirror
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.
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."
Karma: Positive (probably because of superiour intellect)
"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.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Call it GoogleMail , not rocket science.
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!
I'm sure Googlegemeinschaftelektronischepostsystem will be just as catchy.
They should of just bought the company and took the trademark. They might have some cash to spare?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
You can give people that email too. So if you have Slashdot@gmail.com then Slashdot@googlemail.com works too.
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!
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...
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!
Except that he had a service called "Gmail" before Google had a service called "Gmail".
As such, your entire post is completely irrelevant.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".