Hey Google… SCREW YOU…
I love Google. When they come out with a new product, I’m one of the first to check it out and soak it in. I had a Gmail account very early (as evidenced by the excellent and short address I got). I love Picasa. I use Google Docs and Spreadsheets regularly.
You get the picture.
So it annoys the crap out of me that Google is actually preaching to people on how to use their name:
Usage: ‘Google’ as noun referring to, well, us.
Example: “I just love Google, they’re soooo cute and cuddly and adorable and awesome!”
Our lawyers say: Good. Very, very good. There’s no question here that you’re referring to Google Inc. as a company. Use it widely, and hey, tell a friend.Usage: ‘Google’ as verb referring to searching for information on, um, Google.
Example: “I googled him on the well-known website Google.com and he seems pretty interesting.”
Our lawyers say: Well, we’re happy at least that it’s clear you mean searching on Google.com. As our friends at Merriam-Webster note, to “Google” means “to use the Google search engine to find information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web.”Usage: ‘Google’ as verb referring to searching for information via any conduit other than Google.
Example: “I googled him on Yahoo and he seems pretty interesting.”
Our lawyers say: Bad. Very, very bad. You can only “Google” on the Google search engine. If you absolutely must use one of our competitors, please feel free to “search” on Yahoo or any other search engine.
I really hope this was meant to be tongue-in-cheek.
Technorati Tags: google
October 26th, 2006 at 8:58 am
Totally agree with you..Google should not even start wasting their efforts policing the use of their name in the English language..If I say “I googled myself yesterday”, I am supposed to shudder in guilt and lawsuit-driven fear? (For using the word “google”, not for googling myself, hehehe)
Google is a great and admirable company but this post in the blog smirked of arrogance and pompousness.
October 26th, 2006 at 9:31 am
Oh, give me a break. They ARE a company, with a logo and a brand name. It’s only natural that they try to maintain their name as theirs. They are a business, as much as some people don’t want to admit it, and it’s business as usual to protect their property, including their name. They were nice and tried to be humourous about it, but made sure to make their point. Stop being so arrogant yourself that you criticize them for asserting their name as a corporation.
October 26th, 2006 at 10:23 am
Hey Stephanie, are you kidding? I don’t think that the best way to protect your brand is to tell people (as a teacher to a 6 years old boy) you can say “google something” if you use Google Search Engine, but you cannot if you use another search engine (because their lawyers say “it’s bad, bad, bad”). The first reaction to me was to “google something” using Yahoo!. Where is the “Don’t be evil Company”? I think they’ve got too much money in their pockets in a too short timeslot: how will they be within the next 10 years?
October 26th, 2006 at 1:05 pm
This is interesting, because up until recently, Google was firmly against the use of “google” as a verb — regardless of context. Now they’re cool with it as long as one is actually referring to google.com.
This sounds stupid, but it is a fairly common practice. Johnson & Johnson gets annoyed when people use “Band-Aid” to refer to other brands of adhesive bandages, as does Kimberly Clark when facial tissues are referred to generically as “Kleenex”. The same applies to “Popsicles”, “Q-Tips”, “Jell-O”, etc.. In fact, it is my understanding that corporations are required to enforce their trademarks, regardless of how stupid it might seem, because if they ignore some violations, other violators can point to these cases in court, and brand exclusivity can be lost.
It’s lame, but the American trademark system requires idiocy like this. Google isn’t the problem, the USPTO is.