Google rebrands Gmail after trademark spat

A trademark dispute has forced Google to change the name of its webmail service

Google has announced that it is to change the name of its email service in the UK to GoogleMail following a trademark dispute over the ownership of the 'Gmail' name.

New registrations will receive email addresses as 'name@googlemail.com', although existing users will keep their current gmail.com addresses for the time being.

Google is in an ongoing dispute with UK-based financial services firm Independent International Investment Research (IIIR) which claims that a subsidiary firm ProNet Analytics had been using the Gmail name since mid-2002 for its own webmail application.

Talks to resolve the issue broke down a few months ago amid reports that IIIR had valued the name at £25m.

Despite Google's denying IIIR's trademark claim, the search giant said that it was moving new subscribers to the new name to "avoid any distraction to Google and our users".

Gmail users in Germany have also been switched owing to a similar trademark dispute involving a separate company.