---
title: "Auf Wiedersehen, Gmail – Google Loses Court Case in Germany"
date: 2007-07-04
author: "Richard MacManus"
categories:
  - name: "ReadWriteWeb"
    url: "/category/readwriteweb.md"
tags:
  - name: "2007"
    url: "/tag/2007.md"
---

# Auf Wiedersehen, Gmail – Google Loses Court Case in Germany

![](https://web.archive.org/web/20111214003247im_/http://rww.readwriteweb.netdna-cdn.com/images/gmailflagpw6.jpg)German courts have confirmed that Google’s fight for the G-mail trademark has been lost. 33-year old German businessman Daniel Giersch has [won a case against Google](https://web.archive.org/web/20111214003247/http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-04-2007/0004620206&EDATE=), meaning that Google is not permitted to use the “Gmail” name in Germany. Giersch had registered ‘G-mail’ in 2000, four years before Google came out with its web mail service of the same name.

This is the second time that Google has had to give up the Gmail name – [two years ago](https://web.archive.org/web/20111214003247/http://news.com.com/Google+gives+up+on+Gmail+name+in+U.K./2100-1030_3-5901674.html) Google handed over the rights to the name in the UK. At that time Google changed the name to [Google Mail](https://web.archive.org/web/20111214003247/http://mail.google.com/mail/help/intl/en-GB/googlemail.html), after its run-in with research firm Independent International Investment Research (IIIR) – which used the name G-mail to refer to a part of its financial analytics software.

Indeed Google is having trouble holding its own in Europe as a whole, in the Gmail battle. Again Giersch is at the center of it, as he also won in Austria and claims to own the name in Spain, Portugal and Switzerland. Meanwhile [in Poland](https://web.archive.org/web/20111214003247/http://www.turbogadgets.com/2007/02/24/gmail-trademark-trouble-in-europe/), Google’s Gmail adversary is “a polish group of poets”.

Back in Germany, Giersch claims he is not cyber-squatting but has actually created a business around the name G-mail. He even [issued a press release](https://web.archive.org/web/20111214003247/http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-04-2007/0004620206&EDATE=) comparing himself to German entrepreneurs post-second world war:

> “…the 33-year-old is putting himself in the entrepreneurial tradition of the so-called “men of the first hours,” who put Germany on the road to success in the post-war years. Backbone, innovation and courage are the values that are important for Giersch.”

Continuing the war motif, Giersch also declares this “a legendary victory” – noting that “for many Daniels fighting “Googliaths,” confidence and financial means run out in the long course of battle.”

## So what is G-mail, the German version?

[Giersch’s G-Mail](https://web.archive.org/web/20111214003247/http://www.gmail.de/) is a “hybrid mail system”. He claims it “is an ingenious blend of innovative and well-tried communications solutions”. Well if he can build software as good as he fights court battles, then he’s onto a winner.

Giersch’s press release concludes by saying that that “the confirmed, unambiguous legal situation is helping Daniel Giersch and his “G-mail” name finally go full steam ahead and realise their catchy motto: “…und die Post geht richtig ab!” (“…and the post is really taking off!”)”

The court victory will certainly do no harm in promoting G-Mail in Germany.

*Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/auf_wiedersehen_gmail_google_loses_germany_court_case.php))*