At the same time as Google (GOOG) is unifying its freemail Gmail brand around the world, the global search engine is facing a domain name fight in China.

The Chinese holder of the domain name "Gmail.cn" refuses to sell its domain name to Google.com. The holder of the domain name, ISM China, has its headquarters in Beijing, and the logo and design of Gmail.cn is similar with Google's Gmail.com.

This has been a long-simmering problem for Google in China, but international media have recently realized the problem in a month of slow news.

Though ISM China refuses to sell the domain name "Gmail.cn" to Google, there is no evidence that Google will sue ISM China, since ISM appears to not be trying to cause marketplace confusion or approached Google to sell the domain name.

ISM claims on its website that they are the biggest domain name registrar accredited by CNNIC.