Only google with Google

Google, whose motto has been "Don't be Evil," has hired lawyers who are concerned about how we commoners ignorantly use the term Google as a verb. They want to protect the Google brand, so that it doesn't go the way of cellophane, thermos, and other products that have become totally generic. But their me-centric concerns encroach on evilness, and they'll fully embrace evilness if they take legal action.

We're told that it's okay to say you "googled" somebody or something, but only if you did it using the Google search engine. You cannot "google" someone on Yahoo or MSN or Lycos or any other search engine. You can "search" on Ask.com. You can only "google" on Google. This is a matter of cosmic importance.

Google has been a cool company with cool products and services. Now, with this pettiness, they risk losing their street cred and becoming just another bunch of corporate schmucks. Like Microsoft.

Posted on October 30, 2006 09:29 AM|

Comments

I guess when your stock price is over $400 a share, you start getting a big head.

I would think that they would like the free publicity with "google" being a part of the everyday language. Kind of like when you would say to "xerox" a copy. I don't remember that company wanting to sue everyone.

Posted by: Rick | October 31, 2006 08:38 AM

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