Google Legal Woes Get Deeper

An article by Lee Miller in WebProNews announces the coming of another assault on Google. This time the attack is on Google's Gmail trademark. IIR Group (Independent International investment Research) recently won a suit in the UK against Google for their UK rights to use the trademark Gmail. Now IIR Group is seeking relief here in the US, and the Gmail.com address may have to become @googlemail.com.

According to the article, IIR Group filed a petition with the US Patent and Trademark Office to cancel Google's ownership of the Gmail trademark. IIR Group alleges that Google improperly acquired the application for it in 2004.

Essentially, when Google noticed that their application was submitted 4 days after IIR Group's they bough an earlier application of the Trademark. The USPO granted Google Gmail based on this earlier trademark.

But Shane Smith, Chairman and CEO of IIR Group, claims that application was "worthless," as Precision Research's GMail product had been abandoned at the time the application was filed. Smith says that one of the requirements to obtain the rights to a trademark is to prove that the mark is currently in use. IIR Group is prepared to argue that it wasn't.

According to Smith, Google bought something that was not legitimate, because the trademark may not have been I use at the time Google bought it. This is one of the stipulations in the application process, and if true would essentially negate Google's claim to Gmail!

IIR Group launched their Gmail in 2002 and the G stood for "Graphiti" according to this article. It was a subscription service offered though IIR Group's website at the time. IIR Group's product was essentially shut down in 2004 with Google's launch of Gmail. IIR Group is seeking monetary damages based on the trademarks value, which is currently estimated at $48-$64 million.

Evidently Google has refused to negotiate with IIR Group since 2004, and has tried the case up in court rather than settle.

Given Google's attack on the Polish Poets described in an earlier post, I think this is poetic justice (no pun intended). I am always amazed at the messes giant companies can make over the simplest things. These people pay some of the most qualified and expert people on the planet and they can't even deal with the little stuff! Every time I write an article that has anything to do with Google, I am always confounded by these little variables. Don't you just wonder if they just party all night long and come into the office at noon?

Well, if they weather all the demons nipping at their coat tails, Google will get my vote for emergency managers of the century. I have worked for companies that operated like that, waiting until the last minute to pull a rabbit out of the hat. Like the SEO attacks on the page rank system, wouldn't you think they would do more than patch holes all the time and create a super search engine with all that money? After all, they are supposed to be super geeks right?