Google resurrects Gmail in the UK
Reached settlement with previous 'rights holder'
Google has announced it is bringing back the @gmail.com email address for new users of the service in the UK after it reached a settlement with the company claiming the name as its own.
Anyone that fancied hopping on Google's email service after October 2005 has been given an @googlemail.com suffix to their username, after another company claimed it held the rights to gmail.
UPDATE: We've asked Google for a statement about what's happened, and the search engine has kindly responded (via a real life spokesperson, not just us Googling our query):
"After engaging in legal proceedings at the trademark office, we were able to reach a settlement with the party with whom we had the conflict.
We are happy to have resolved this issue, and look forward to offering @gmail.com addresses to users in the UK."
Adding the oogle
It is a little confusing as even though those issued with an @googlemail.com after October 2005 were still able to receive mail on the equivalent @gmail.com address - but now this just sounds cooler and as Google points out: saves finger energy (sort of).
Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox
Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.
We're having a little word with Google now to see if we can find out the reason for the change, but this is something it may stay a little tight-lipped on.
So if you've been sitting on the Googlemail fence for over five years based on the too-long suffix, then a) you need to get out more and b) the world has now become a brighter place for you.
Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.