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Google loses its Gmail trademark in Germany |
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Written by Felix Da Silva (fdasilva@bitnip.com)
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Saturday, 23 June 2007 |
 A German appellate court ruled against the company, says German venture
capitalist Daniel Giersch, who brought the case against Google. The court is
expected to provide a written ruling on July 4, according to Google and Giersch.
Giersch runs an electronic postal delivery business that goes by the name
G-mail, which is short for "Giersch mail." Giersch says he only wants to use the
trademark in Germany, Switzerland, Norway and Monaco.
This ruling came not long after a similar ruling in Switzerland. In that particular case, the Zurich Commercial Court dismissed Google's arguments in a lawsuit
challenging a trademark registered by Giersch.
However, the outcome does not require Google to abandon use of Gmail for its Swiss
service. Both Giersch and Google received Swiss
rights to the name in 2005, although Giersch applied for his trademark several
months before Google did both remain in possession of those marks.
The reason is that the Swiss trademark officials do not check to see whether a name
has been registered before they award a trademark; they merely check to see
whether it meets their standards on its own, said Rose Hagan, a senior trademark
counsel for Google. Then they leave it up to the parties to file challenges if
they wish, and Google chose to file such a challenge.
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