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Why is my Google Gmail mail coming from googlemail.com?

This is weird: my friends are telling me that when I send mail from Gmail, the return address is to googlemail.com, not gmail.com. Have I had my Gmail account hacked or something?

Dave's Answer:

I seem to be on that short list too over at Google Mail Central too: when I send mail the return address is also from @googlemail.com.

Fortunately, a quick check of whois shows that it's registered by Google, not some mysterious third-world hacker group:

$ whois googlemail.com
Registrant:
Google Inc. (DOM-302458)
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043
US

So it's not someone hacking the system. What's up? Well, it turns out that it's all because of a trademark dispute in England. As Google explains:

"We have been involved in a dispute regarding the Gmail trademark in the UK. Another company has claimed rights to the Gmail name. We have tried to resolve this dispute through negotiations, but our efforts have failed. We are still working with the courts and trademark office to protect our ability to use the Gmail name, but in the meantime, we want you to have an email address you can rely on."

The long and short of it is that while it's a minor nuisance, it's nothing to worry about. :-)

Thanks, Eric, for the tip about googlemail.com!

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Categorized: Computer and Internet Basics (Article 7806)
Tagged: gmail, google mail, whois
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Comments

Interestingly, when I use my gmail account to reply to another mailbox, my return address is still gmail.com, not googlemail.com. It appears that not everyone has their return address as googlemail.com, but I'm not sure why. Who knows!

Posted by: Eric Savage at January 1, 2008 12:03 PM

I too am a Brit with a gmail.com email address, but I was an early adopter. It is only those Brits who signed up after the case went to court who use a googlemail.com adddress.

And, BTW, the trademark dispute is in the UK, not England!

Posted by: Dave MacRae at February 8, 2008 2:12 AM

help! I am unable to unsubscribe from a few newsletters I've signed up to because the unsubscribe reader now reads the subscription from @googlemail.com and not @gmail.com that I used to sign up. I can't figure out how to complain to Google - any ideas?

Posted by: sarah at April 20, 2008 9:28 AM

That's an interesting problem, Sarah! Most modern newsletters and email lists have an unsubscribe link on the bottom of the message: that usually has your email address embedded within, so it should work regardless of whether you are @gmail or @googlemail

Secondly, if you're emailing an unsubscribe message like

unsub LISTNAME

you can also try just adding your email address immediately after it:

unsub LISTNAME your@email.adr

Failing both of those, email the list owner and ask them to help you out. Good luck!

Posted by: Dave Taylor at April 21, 2008 8:53 PM

I have a lot to say, but ...

I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!