German GMail users sued for selling invites on eBay

But not by Google...

[pmkpmk]

Bad awakening for a couple of German GMail users, who tried to sell GMail invites via eBay. They got a letter from a lawyer's office. However not from Google's lawyers, but from a lawyer working on behalf of a client who operates a web-based email system with the name "my-g-mail".

The users got a cease and desist worth of 900 EUR (~1.200 USD) - if they risk litigation the lawyer quotes an amout of 30.000 EUR.

Full coverage (in German) here: [heise.de...]

[pmkpmk]

Recent devlopment:

Provisional measure was granted by the Hamburg District Court against a student, who has sold 100 GMail invitations at 5 EUR each. The customer however was the lawyer of the person who has a trademark in Germany for the phrase and graphics of "G-mail ... und die Post geht richtig ab" (roughly translates into "G-mail .... email with a vengance!").

They claim to have contacted Google in fall of 2004, but Google refused to discuss matters.

Additional coverage (German): [heise.de...]