Stop Googling things, says Google
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Stop Googling things, says Google
Will Head, vnunet.com 14 Aug 2006
Google has issued letters to media organisations asking them to refrain from using its name as a verb.
In order to "protect its trademark", and prevent it becoming a generic term, the search firm has sent letters to publishers advising them on its proper use.Google's letter includes helpful examples of appropriate and inappropriate use of the company's trademark.For example: 'I used Google to check out that guy I met at the party' is fine, but 'I googled that hottie' is not.Similarly, it's OK to say: 'He ego-surfs on Google to see if he's listed in the results' but not 'He googles himself.'
The key distinction is whether Google is used to describe searching in a general, non-specific sense.
"With constant generic use, trademarks can lose their special status and their proper name capitalisation," said Google in the letter.
"It has happened to once-trademarked products including yo-yo, trampoline and nylon. Trademark lawyers call it 'genericide'.
"Google is a trademark identifying Google Inc's search technology and services. We know Google is fun to say, and of course it is great fun to use.
"And though we are flattered that people like our name, it is also our company's chief commercial asset. We want to ensure that people use it in a way that preserves its meaning and integrity."
Google was added as a verb to the Merriam-Webster dictionary at the beginning of last month with the definition: 'To use the Google search engine to obtain information about [a person or thing] on the world wide web.'
http://www.itweek.co.uk/vnunet/news/216 ... ngs-google
Google has issued letters to media organisations asking them to refrain from using its name as a verb.
In order to "protect its trademark", and prevent it becoming a generic term, the search firm has sent letters to publishers advising them on its proper use.Google's letter includes helpful examples of appropriate and inappropriate use of the company's trademark.For example: 'I used Google to check out that guy I met at the party' is fine, but 'I googled that hottie' is not.Similarly, it's OK to say: 'He ego-surfs on Google to see if he's listed in the results' but not 'He googles himself.'
The key distinction is whether Google is used to describe searching in a general, non-specific sense.
"With constant generic use, trademarks can lose their special status and their proper name capitalisation," said Google in the letter.
"It has happened to once-trademarked products including yo-yo, trampoline and nylon. Trademark lawyers call it 'genericide'.
"Google is a trademark identifying Google Inc's search technology and services. We know Google is fun to say, and of course it is great fun to use.
"And though we are flattered that people like our name, it is also our company's chief commercial asset. We want to ensure that people use it in a way that preserves its meaning and integrity."
Google was added as a verb to the Merriam-Webster dictionary at the beginning of last month with the definition: 'To use the Google search engine to obtain information about [a person or thing] on the world wide web.'
http://www.itweek.co.uk/vnunet/news/216 ... ngs-google
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It's not really the same as Yo-Yo or Hoover since using "google" as a verb is not generic enough that you'd use Yahoo! to carry out the action. It's a bit of a special case since the verb is directly associated with the search engine itself. Yo-Yo became a generic term since the object itself was just a Yo-Yo regardless of who made it. I don't think anybody could realistically create a new search engine and call it a "Google". It's an intersting point though... and I like the term Genericide 