Google wants people to stop googling

By Will Sturgeon on 17 August 2006

Google has said it intends to crack down on the use of its name as a generic verb, in phrases such as "to google someone."

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Comments (4)

  • WITTYBOB commented on 22/08/2007 11:41

    I think I'll have to "GOOGLE" this topic and see if it's available in a "POD"cast.

  • Christopher Butler commented on 07/09/2006 10:33

    On March 14 1953, Raymond Chandler used the word Google (with cap G). Will he then be sued postumously?
    See: http://wordwing.com/content/view/34/40/

  • Chuck commented on 20/08/2006 13:49

    Google doesn't want me using their name as a verb anymore? Fine then, from now on I'll yahoo the unfamiliar.

  • Andrew commented on 19/08/2006 10:10

    Coca-cola does the same thing. It put a huge amount of effort in to stopping "Coke" from being used as a generic term for "cola". Without understanding the US trademark law too much, there is apparently a point where if a trademark can become deemed a generic term then the actual owner of that trademark can lose rights to actually defend the usage of their trademark by their competitors. Imagine Microsoft being able to say "Windows Live: the new way to google" without Google having the right to stop that usage. Google need to at least show an attempt to try and stop the generalisation of their trademark to be able to defend against competitive usage.

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