Microsoft loses 'SkyDrive' trademark case in EU

[Brink]

Microsoft has lost a trademark battle against British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) at the U.K.'s High Court in London, which may force the software giant to change the name of its clouds storage service, or pay fines.

In a court ruling on June 28, Judge Sarah Asplin found that Microsoft had infringed the "Sky" trademark owned by BSkyB by using the "SkyDrive" name. As a result, the software giant could be barred from using the marketing term for its consumer and enterprise document and photo storage service in the 28 member state bloc.

Another hearing will be held in due course, which will allow Microsoft to put forward its case for an appeal against the judgment, as well as a decision on remedies that it will have to comply with.

Microsoft said it will be appealing the decision.

Read more at: Microsoft loses 'SkyDrive' trademark case in EU | ZDNet

 

[Dinesh]

I hope they ain't shutting down Skydrive following Technet.

 

[Layback Bear]

The British Government seems to have a hate for Microsoft.

Top Selling Beers May Not Be What You Think

The United Kingdom citizens have preferred ales in place of lagers for the past several centuries. However, lager beers have been gaining ground in Britain also and the sales of regional ales have been affected seriously by big national lager brands. Carling, previously known as Carling Black Label, is the largest selling beer in Britain, which is originally from Canada

**Does this mean that Carling has the trademark rights in Britain to the words Beer or Lager.**

 

[bobafetthotmail]

the above has nothing to do with UK government. It's Sky' s own british division that started it, and judges (that by definition are NOT part of government) that agreed with that.

Also, I'm not getting the beer reference.

And it's very possible that now SkyDrive will change name. I doubt it will be shut down, as it's part of the "cloud" stuff that is the bleeding edge at the moment.

 

[ThrashZone]

Kind of odd considering SkyDrive is one word.
Possibly dropping the capital D will suffice

 

[Layback Bear]

Okay.
If a company uses a word like Sky does that mean that no other company can use the word Sky because of a trademark.

Carling uses the word beer. Does that mean no other company can use the word beer because of trademarks.

If some one advertise Home Made Pies does that mean they have a trademark on the words Home, Made, and Pies.
How can a normal everyday work like Sky have a trademark?

I wonder who holds the trademark on words like star, table, car ect.

If the courts in the UK are not part of the UK government what government are they part of?

 

[z3r010]

How can a normal everyday work like Sky have a trademark?

The same way Windows or Apple can.

 

[Layback Bear]

How can a normal everyday work like Sky have a trademark?

The same way Windows or Apple can.

Thank you. Now it has sank into my thick brain.

 

[4wd]

Ridiculous. Who's next, Welcome to Sky Waste Removal or Sky to Sea Pet Shop - Home etc etc etc

 

[bobafetthotmail]

If the courts in the UK are not part of the UK government what government are they part of?

No sorry, wrong translation . Government is too similar to the word that means "executive branch of goverment" in italian (which is "governo" that also translates as government in some cases).

How can a normal everyday work like Sky have a trademark?

You are confusing that with copyright and patents.

Trademarks can be whatever, but the first using them has the right to stop everyone after him from using the same as a trademark. But nothing stops anyone from using the same word outside a trademark.
Which is why for example a big worldwide company that sells windows cannot call itself Windows, but can write "the best windows of the world" under the trademark of the company as their motto or slogan (as long as it isn't trademarked).

Copyright and patents does not apply on common words/devices for obvious reasons.

 

[techtitan100]

so would this mean we would all lose access to SkyDrive or will they just change the name and we will still be using it

 

[DocBrown]

Maybe they could re-name it MS-NSA SpyDrive

 

[bobafetthotmail]

so would this mean we would all lose access to SkyDrive or will they just change the name and we will still be using it

Trademark fighting usually means that the loser changes name of its stuff. Don't worry, MS needs its cloud services too much to close them just because of the wrong name.

 

[Wenda]

Maybe they could re-name it MS-NSA SpyDrive

BINGO!!!

It's why disabling Sky-Drive was the very first thing I did when installing 8.1

 

[Dinesh]

Maybe they could re-name it MS-NSA SpyDrive

:haha:

 

[Shadowjk]

They'll most likely change the name like they did with the old Windows 8 'Metro' interface.

One thing that I do known is that companies can't trademark letters which is probably why you see a lot of 'i' things around since apple can't trademark.

 

[Gary]

I hope they ain't shutting down Skydrive following Technet.

They will have to change the name I guess. Nosedive may be a goo choice?

 

[IanDrexP]

Interesting to see what name they actually replace

 

[ThrashZone]

Maybe they could re-name it MS-NSA SpyDrive

BINGO!!!

It's why disabling Sky-Drive was the very first thing I did when installing 8.1

I wouldn't blame you for disabling/ Uninstalling skydrive desktop as a mesh/ sync service would often drag performance down,
Skydrive as a whole is as Advertising free as it gets/ Zero adds/ Free 7 gig's for new accounts 25 gig's free space for existing Hotmail.com accounts !
Uploads Original size files, No other service offers this to free accounts that I've found,
I have yet to see a free and more than generous file sharing site offer more without upgrading to a paid for account ?
Skydrive as a manual go to site is awesome/ add to favorites bar...
Skydrive as in Metro/ probably not so great

 

[Gary]

I use Mediafire and the free service offers 50GB of storage.