OK to use Google as a verb as long as it’s googling Google and not competitors |
A couple months ago there was a dustup over Google being used as a verb in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. I just noticed this post on the Google blog trying to make some sense out of trademark nonsense:
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.
So it’s ok to use Google as a verb for googling Google, but not ok according to the legal beagles for googling other search engines? That seems more reasonable than not using Google as a verb at all, but I’ve never seen anybody use an example like they provided. Who uses Google as a verb for Yahoo?
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The same people who google on Yahoo are the same people who say they want a coke but don’t know what kind of coke - Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, or Sprite. Xerox doesn’t seem to mind if you xerox something on a Lexmark copier. Does Google not understand free marketing?
Comment by shawn — October 26, 2006 @ 12:50 am PST