In yet another example of patent and trademark related silliness, Microsoft is renaming its SkyDrive cloud storage service to OneDrive.
The move comes after a UK court found the "SkyDrive" brand infringed on a trademark owned by UK pay TV operator BSkyB. I personally wonder just why on earth a pay TV operator got their knickers in such a twist about a similar sounding name being used in a completely unrelated industry?
Equally of interest to BySkyB shareholders must be the question of what the legal bill for these shenanigans works out to, and if anyone beyond a bunch of corporate wonks in marketing and legal really gives a damn anyhow?
Last year, the UK Court found in favour of BSkyB, ruling that they hold the "Sky" trademark for matters of software and digital communications within the EU. Bizarrely the court also found Microsoft's SkyDrive could be confused with broadband internet and cloud-based services offered by BSkyB.
Trouble is if most Brits are smart enough to know that their set top box remote won't work with their PC, then why were the courts so utterly brain-dead about the matter, letting it escalate to the point where Microsoft had to embark on the massively costly undertaking of renaming SkyDrive?
