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Gmail Returns To UK

Google have settled a five-year trademark dispute with Independent International Investment Research over the name ‘Gmail’. The case’s settlement means that users of Google’s e-mail service will now be able to use the name in their e-mail addresses, rather than the longer ‘googlemail’.

The dispute, which began in 2005, centred around the claim from IIIR, an investment research firm, that they had been using the name ‘Gmail’ for a web-based e-mail application. Around a year after Google brought their mail service to the UK, they had opted to drop the ‘Gmail’ name rather than settle with IIIR, describing the company’s settlement fee “exorbitant”.

The move will not force British Google Mail users to change their e-mail addresses, but will offer the option if they want to.

Somewhat scraping the barrel for plus points, Google software engineer Greg Bullock estimated that the move would “save 60 million keystrokes a day.” Bullock did not speculate what effect the ‘saved’ keystrokes would have on the environment.