Izabela Krawczyk of GMAiL (Grupa Młodych Artystów i Literatów), which in English translates to "Group of Young Artists and Writers", told AFP that Google had turned to the country's IT and telecommunications tribunal to try to stop them using https://www.gmail.pl. Google claims that the group of Polish poets has no rights to the name, which resembles the US firm's email service https://www.gmail.com. Krawczyk said that at the end of last year her group was surprised to discover that the domain was available and decided to buy the rights to the domain name in order to raise the profile of GMAiL, which publicises the works of young unknowns who have not yet found a conventional editor.
Krawczyk, a poet and IT fan based in the central Polish city of Lodz, emphasized that that the group is not looking to make money by getting Google to buy the domain off of them: "We didn't buy this name just to sell it to Google. As a matter of pride, we're refusing to give it up. We bought the name legally, with our own money. Nobody gave it to us for free. We refuse to be deprived of what we consider is our property. Our site has a use. There's no financial gain involved. And we're not competing with the US company." Krawczyk also noted that Google had not proposed a financial settlement: "Their lawyer told me that his client had no intention of paying for something which belonged to him."
Opinion: I probably have a bias view on this issue as I am Polish. Still, here's my take. I do not believe that GMAiL has done anything wrong and I believe they should not give up the rights to the domain. It is Google's fault for not securing the domain name early on. Also, the domain googlemail.pl is open, so it is not as if Google does not have options. Finally, as in German and in the UK, Google can always offer Polish users to use googlemail.com to sign up for Gmail.
Link: Forum Discussion (Thanks Rappy)
News source: Physorg
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