A U.K. High Court ruled that Microsoft’s cloud storage product SkyDrive infringes upon the “Sky” trademark belonging to the British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB).
Microsoft will either have to change the name of the product, or pay a huge amount of fines. Although there was an option to appeal against the ruling, Microsoft has chosen to settle the case for an undisclosed sum. In return BSkyB will allow it to continue to use the name “SkyDrive” for a transitory period.
This is a pretty big hurdle for Microsoft, SkyDrive has been around for a while and was matching up well against competitors such as Google Drive and Dropbox. However, re-branding isn’t unheard of, as fellow cloud-storage service YouSendIt recently proved (or is attempting to prove) by changing its name to Hightail. This might be an opportunity for Microsoft to add even bigger features to the product and re-package its marketing according to a bunch of new functions that will help it stand out in the cloud space.
