Microsoft forced to drop SkyDrive name

Microsoft will have time find a different name for its SkyDrive cloud storage service after it reached an agreement with a company suing the IT giant for using the "Sky" mark.

In a joint statement, British Sky Broadcasting and Microsoft said the settlement meant Microsoft could use the SkyDrive name "for a reasonable period of time to allow for an orderly transition to a new brand."

Microsoft will not appeal the trademark judgement handed down in June by a UK High Court.

How much Microsoft will have to pay BSkyB to continue to use the SkyDrive name was not revelead, nor were other terms of the settlement.

This is the second major brand that Microsoft has lost rights to in recent times. In August last year Microsoft was forced to tell developers to stop using the Metro name for the new user interface in Windows 8, ahead of the launch of the operating system, after a German retail chain threatened to sue over the trademark.

SkyDrive, which was formerly known as Windows Live Folders and Windows Live SkyDrive, was launched by Microsoft in 2007. The storage service is incorporated in the Windows operating system as well as Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 mobile platform, and the company's Office productivity suite.