Looks like Google got bounced again on their most recent attempt to trademark Android in Europe. Their request has been has been stuck on the absolute grounds check for nearly a month when most trademarks go through this quite quickly.
Al. -- * Looking for Android apps?, try http://andappstore.com/ * ====== Funky Android Limited is registered in England & Wales with the company number 6741909. The registered head office is Kemp House, 152-160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, UK. The views expressed in this email are those of the author and not necessarily those of Funky Android Limited, it's associates, or it's subsidiaries. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Shane Isbell Sent: 02 September 2009 20:16 To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: [android-discuss] Re: Using "droid" in domain names...??? I think the issue is that Google doesn't want people to mistake a site or application as an official Google one. If you cross that line, you may get into trouble. Some months ago, at SlideME, Google contacted us because we used their font for the word 'Android'. It seemed like a fair complaint, so we removed it from our site. In regards to the use of the term Android itself, Google doesn't own the trademark; they have just applied for it and are awaiting for approval (which I doubt will go through, but we will see). In this specific case, their branding guidelines aren't really enforceable, yet. As far as I know, Google hasn't gone after sites like AndroidGuys, as we all know they aren't an official Google site. I'm sure that if they started pulling something to make themselves look like an official site, Google would stomp them flat for the use of 'Android' in the name. If you go to our slideme twitter link (below), you will see that we say: "The alternative application marketplace for Android." This indicates to users we aren't 'The Android Market.' just a market for Android. Even open-source projects are pretty protective of their name, even if they don't have the trademark, so common courtesy suggests the use of 'for Project[X]' so people know it's not an official project of Project[X]. I don't agree that Google should protect the word 'Droid', that is going too far in my opinion. -- Shane Isbell (Co-founder of SlideME LLC) http://twitter.com/sisbell http://twitter.com/slideme --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
