Slashdot Mirror
Google to be Sued Over Name?
WK writes "Now that Google's IPO is running, the company is on the verge of being sued by the family of Professor Edward Kasner who invented the word 'Googol' to describe a very big number. The great-niece of Kasner who was 4 years old at the time her uncle died says that although Google has brought attention to the name, it has not brought attention to Kasner's work. Google was not using the concepts, but just capitalizing on the name."
Answer : write down a figure, then add a lot of zeros. *rimshot*
Thank you. I'll be here all week; don't forget to tip your server. Why not try the tuna?
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
do you suppose she used google to find local legal advice?
Some dead Greek guy's relative sues MPAA over use of the word 'Pi' as a movie title.
Roman mathematician's descendents sue Dr. Evil over the use of the word "Million"
Parker Brothers sued over the name 'Mr. Green' in the popular "Clue" game by the guy who invented that word.
This post brought to you by the number 3(TM), the letter P(TM) and the color yellow(TM).
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
this is insane. why not just go after the makers of GOGGLES while you're at it too?
This, of course, raises deep philosophical questions about existence. Do things not listed on Google exist? Did anything exist before Google? Does Slashdot exist on a higher plane of being than I do because it yields more results?
Easy: Femplesnip. It means to invent new words as you go along. So I just femplesnipped femplesnip and my descendants will cite this post as prior art.
Money for nothing, pix for free
"Now that Google's IPO is running, the company is on the verge of being sued by the family of Professor Edward Kasner who invented the word 'Googol' to describe a very big number.
In other news, the family of Professor Edward Kassner is being sued by the family of the great Russian playwright Nikolai Gogol.
In Soviet Russia... Google Gogols you!
over the frivolous use of the name Monopoly :-D
A little planning goes a long way...
I am a gringo!
Stick Men
If the guy keeps spinning, maybe he can be used as a source of unlimited, cheap electricity.
Be wary of any facts that confirm your opinion.
for a 10^100 money-grubbing bitch:
;-)
FUCK YOU.
This shuold be Google's answer for this suit as well as the judge's who might see the case. I personally would feel a great swell of pride if they would publish it on their front page
Dream as if you'll live forever.
Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
~Anonymous~
Hey, my name is Scott Charlie Orth. i've been around long before a certain company. This gives me an idea...
Cha-ching!
_______
2B1ASK1
I mean, Google's success *must* have been due to the name. I know that the relevant results and inoffensive advertising mean nothing to me in comparison to the fact that its called Google!
"Because Science" is one step from "Because old book". Try "Because of my experiment testing my falsifiable assertion".
When my kid was about 1 she said goo goo googel. Maybe I'll just try copyright all the mumbling speech of hers when she was a baby. Please do not name a company/website ya ya ya or ba ba ba or ma ma ma. Thank you, Lou Sir
Well I remember as a child running through the Austrian snow one January and shouting Yahooooooooooooo! So I think I'll be finding myself a bod damned lawyer and suing the asses off those Yahoo! guys. Oh, am I gonna be rich!
Oh yeah, and you bastards from alta (la) vista should be quaking in your boots. I'm in my hummer right now.
Ahnolt.
If anyone names their dot com company "hoinkel doinkel," my three-year-old son is going to sue their ass off!
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
Jesus must be spinning in his grave....
Well he might if he was still in it.
A latent existence
...and rename the site "butthead great-niece of some math professor."
--- Ban humanity.
Booble isn't spelled the same either, but Google has some objections. (A "look and feel" case, heh heh.)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
She must have read McBride's new book:
How To Bring Shame and Disgrace to Your Family Name
in 3 easy steps
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
and Google is a new word, an honorific of googol.
Or as SCO would say, an unauthorized derivative and a clear case of non-literal copying.
There is no case here. A new word was invented SPECIFICALLY TO AVOID the issue of trademarking an existing word. It's done all the time. Get over it.
--
Alive and kicking in a VM
Google clearly has capitalized on the name Google, and should be happy to share some of its irrational success by benefitting the people from which it has benefitted.
Yes - they could have used a different name - but they chose this man, his work, and his word to christen their enterprize.
Decency recommends that they show some loyal tribute in return.
I don't know for how much she is asking - but the complaint to some extent looks to raise the question of the man's work into - Very large numbers.
Google should provide the world with a sincere understaning of the root of their title and give credit if credit is due to the man who invisioned the concept (perhaps of inordinant scaleability)?.
I don't know - but that's the point - Google should be a place where among other things people can find out the meaning of the word Google.
(Can I respond try google and get the +5 funny mod myself)
If they need to go to court to figure out a way of respecting their namesake - they should.
AIK
In other news, houses now come w/ "clear glass openings" to see out.
my grandchidren will be rich
Not a chance. Future corporations will just make sure they hire excellent jipnarks to name their future products.
I didn't know they had snow in Austria. Wouldn't all of the kangaroos slip over? G'day mate ;-)
Tip the server??? Do you know how much these rackmounts cost!!!
You should have bought blades, dude! Already tipped. :-)
zWhat would an EWOULDBLOCK block, if an EWOULDBLOCK could block would? -- me
Surely, we must first point out the incalculable advantages of having a geekocracy. Our entire lives will be changed! Think of what will be different:
Gee. Somebody admits they're wrong on /. and gets modded "overrated". Heck, I'd have thought some of the mods would have seen it as "insightful"....
--
As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.
>
> Is there even a realm of law that would cover such a thing?
Darl McBride's Fantasy World Law?
Dude. You were stoned. And watching "The Sound of Music".
Which simply establishes that you were in the right state of mind for a lawsuit simular to the Google one.
Nah, they should be generous and offer them 10,000 shares of stock.
Then to be evil they should sell 1 Googol shares of stocks to make their measly 10K shares worthless.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
This just in,
Several South American Countries are suing Amazon.com over the use of the name of their Rain Forest.
Washed up funnyman Yahoo Serious is suing Yahoo for use of his name.
Give me a break.
Google is successful? I could never tell whether or not it was a search engine, or a one with a hundred zeros behind it. It's just so confusing! So difficult to tell!
Punctanym: alternate spelling of words using punctuation or numerals in place of some or all of its letters; see 'leet'
In other news, the Kasner family also contemplating lawsuits against cricketers who earn fame bowling leg break googley bowler Shane Warne and Anil Kumble
apologies to non-cricket loving folks and moderators
"Googol is a word that some kid made up to describe a big number that existed a priori. Even if you could sell a googol of something(that'd be a whole hell of a lot), you can't sell a googol itself."
Since there are only 10 to the power of 40 or so particles in the universe, you can't sell 10 to the power of 100 of anything.
Oh that's right, they are not going to IPO...
activestudios web design
...because the word "Googol" has been an inspirational breakthrough in the world of math, and the Google search engine has been little more than a coat-tail rider.
Good thing the kid was like 5 years old - if it had been a teenager or college kid he would have called that number a 'fuckload' and guess what the number one search engine on the planet would have been ... yea, a whole new paradigm.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
Now a bunch of long dead Arabs are trying to sue me. Well, shoot.
My family has a policy for this kind of stuff. It involves beatings.
I'm going to go back in my box and will think within the limits of my box: MS Sucks Linux Good I read too much Slashdot.
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
Your honour, we know everyone says "google" and thinks of that 10^100 number, but really, we called our search engine "go-ogle", meaning "go look". That "google" word is just a strange coincidence...
I'm a bloodsucking fiend! Look at my outfit!
Excuse me, I own the trademark to the work "global". You will need to rename this thread "Welcome to the Globle Economy."
Thank you.
- Mike
Yep, I just thought of a new number - zoobol
its exactly 112 zeros after a one.
Im gonna sue your ass if u make a site caled zooble..