Rosio Pavoris a blog

These Google-is-evil stories are getting old, but for some reason, Google still has fanboys. Well, I guess even Microsoft has those.

Anyway, today’s story is about a German guy, Daniel Giersch, who started using the name G-Mail for a service of his in 2000, four years before Google started their Gmail service.

“Google infringed the young businessman’s trademark that had been previously been registered,” said the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in its judgement.

“As far as the Hanseatic Higher Court is concerned, the legal situation is unambiguous to the extent that it has not allowed an appeal to the Federal Court of Justice,” said Giersch’s lawyer Sebastian Eble, from the office of Preu Bohling & Associates.

Pretty straightforward.
If Giersch is smart he’ll come to some settlement with Google in which he sells the rights to the name for a fair bit of money, obviously, but if he doesn’t want to do that, the law is unambiguously on his side, and Google can do the Google Mail thing they did when this happened in the UK.

However…

Google has filed lawsuits against Giersch in Spain, Portugal and Switzerland.

“Google has announced, at least in writing, to ‘fight’ my client abroad for as long as it takes before he drops the legal claims lodged in Germany,” Eble confirmed.

Yes, abuse of the legal system in the hopes that Giersch’s financial means to retain a lawyer will run out before he (inevitably) wins all of these cases.
This is Scientology-level bullshit, people.

Giersch won the case in Germany, and Switzerland threw it out (and Giersch is now counter-suing), but come on.
Google seems intent on destroying whatever bit of good reputation they had left. At least Giersch’s service is getting free advertising out of this.

Like some guy on Slashdot said: “If 10 years ago someone told me the biggest company on the internet would be an advertising agency that used the phrase “don’t be evil” and people believed them I would have said they were on crack. Alas, it seems to be the case.”

(Via, indeed, Slashdot.)