New Domain for Google Email Service Due to Brand Dispute
Google’s e-mail service Google Mail is no longer issuing addresses for Germany from the domain gmail.com. The service now only provides addresses for the domain googlemail.com because of a legal dispute over the brand name Gmail. Hamburg entrepreneur Daniel Giersch, holder of the brand “G-Mail … und die Post geht richtig ab” (G-mail… the best way to go postal) has been granted a temporary restraining order to prevent Google from using the designation “Gmail” in Germany. In particular, Google has been banned from providing e-mail addresses with the domain ending gmail.com to German users. The service has therefore been moved from www.gmail.com to the server at mail.google.com.
As company spokesperson, Stefan Keuchel, told heise online, Google has not yet received the temporary restraining order but is expecting it soon. Google expects the measures it has taken will fulfill the requirements for the temporary restraining order. In particular, current gmail addresses will be remain where they are and not move to the new suffix @googlemail.com.
(Source: Craig Morris from Heise)