Google loses Gmail trademark case in Germany from News.com reports that Google has lost the Gmail trademark case in a German appellate court. Google will not be allowed to use Gmail in Germany, like they can’t in the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

Google Threatens to Close German Gmail Due to Local Law from Google Blogoscoped reports that Google may close down the Gmail service in Germany due to privacy concerns. Philipp Lenssen explains that local German law may require Google to require full addresses of Gmail users, severely impacting user anonymity.

Postscript: It is not official, Google loses Gmail name in Germany from Vnunet reports:

Google has lost the right to the Gmail name in Germany following a court ruling over the trademarked G-Mail name.

The Hanseatic Higher Regional Court ruled that Google’s use of ‘Gmail’ in the region breached the ‘G-Mail’ trademark owned by local businessman Daniel Giersch.

Related Topics: Google: Gmail | Google: Legal | Google: Outside US | Legal: Trademarks

About The Author: Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here. See more articles by Barry Schwartz