EU court rules that Skype's name is too similar to Sky network to claim a trademark

By John Callaham
published

Sky first filed a trademark dispute with Skype before it was acquired by Microsoft in 2011. Today, according to the BBC, the EU court ruled in favor of Sky:

"Judges at the General Court of the European Union said: "Conceptually, the figurative element conveys no concept, except perhaps that of a cloud. [That] would further increase the likelihood of the element 'Sky' being recognised within the word element 'Skype', for clouds are to be found 'in the sky' and thus may readily be associated with the word 'sky'."

Microsoft says it will appeal the EU court decision. It's possible that Sky could try to impose a license fee to Microsoft for the use of the term Skype.

Microsoft and Sky have fought in court before over trademarks. In 2013, a UK court ruled that Microsoft's name for its SkyDrive cloud service was too similar to the Sky network. In that case, Microsoft decided to change the name to OneDrive in 2014.

Source: BBC

John Callaham
John Callaham

I have been writing professionally about technology and gaming news for 14 years.

14 Comments
  • American companies ought to just boycott these countries for a couple weeks and set them straight. This rulings are becoming ridiculous at this point. Sent from the iMore App
  • Wouldn't bombing them be quicker?!
  • The U.S. Should unilaterally invade countries that don't comply or harm US interests. Oh, wait.. Sent from the iMore App
  • :) Sent from the iMore App
  • Best idea ever. Then American's would be forced to realiSe that there is a world outside of its borders. Sent from the iMore App
  • Doubtful, we have plenty of Mexicans and minorities with nothing better to do but riot to pick up their slack.
  • The Fourth Reich is at it again. Just shut off their internet connection for a month, and that'll set them straight
  • Is this real life?
  • Only a dumb will confuse sky network to skype. This is ridiculous...
  • Agree entirely. Sometimes I do wonder how a judge gets to sit in that chair.
  • It is ridiculous to be able to claim the word "sky" for anything anyway. Both Sky and Skype should be turned down.
  • Ahem, ever heard of Apple?
  • The folks at Skyy Vodka are reading this and going "Phew!!"
  • I don't get how Skype is similar to sky, they are two different words. I wouldn't mistakenly say "look at that bird in the Skype!". (autocorrect capitalized Skype for me :P).