Huzzah! UK Google Users Rejoice Over Gmail Addresses

Since 2005, a trademark dispute has caused Gmail to be called “Google Mail” in the UK, meaning Brits were given addresses at the googlemail.com domain as opposed to the much snappier gmail.com domain. The dispute appears to be over, however, as Google has announced that, starting later this week, everyone who signs up for Gmail in the UK will be given @gmail.com addresses, while everyone with an old @googlemail.com address will be given the option of switching to one that ends in @gmail.com.

The change signals an end to some of the workarounds people in the UK used to acquire @gmail.com addresses, such as asking friends from overseas to sign up for them, or using a proxy server or VPN tunnel to fool the service into thinking they were located elsewhere. Unfortunately, Google is still involved with Gmail trademark disputes in other regions of the world, like Germany, so if you’re located in one of those territories and want an @gmail.com address, you’ll still need to use one of the workarounds.

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Image courtesy Flickr user adria.richards, licensed under CC.

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