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Google Sends Legal Threats to Media Organizations
rm69990 writes "Google, becoming more and more concerned about the growing use of the word google as a verb, has fired off warning letters to numerous media organizations warning them against using its name as a verb. This follows google (with a lowercase g) being added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in June. According to a Google spokesperson: "We think it's important to make the distinction between using the word Google to describe using Google to search the internet, and using the word Google to describe searching the internet. It has some serious trademark issues.""
What the hell is Google thinking? Any mention of their name is great publicity and they should be happy with it. Instead they look like a bunch of corporate penny mongers trying to be a general inconvenience.
:-( and threatened to charge anyone that used them. "Let our message to trademark violators be clear. Whether you are a 4th grade nothing using your momma's AOL account, or you are Time Magazine's 'Man of the Year', we are going to hunt you down, and when we do, we're really going to give you something to :-(® about."
:-P.
It almost reminds me of the time that Despair, Inc. patented the frowney emoticon
The only difference is that Despair was only joking
--
"A man is asked if he is wise or not. He replies that he is otherwise" ~Mao Zedong
Capitalism: When it uses the carrot, it's called democracy. When it uses the stick, it's called fascism.
Anyone hear about that one site that got slashdotted the other day after it got posted on Digg? It was down for ages!
That's fine... we'll just use "yahoo" (Of course it would be lower case "y") as a verb instead... *sigh* "I'm going to yahoo that..." -It just doesn't have the same ring to it...
Has anybody googled the author?
Anyone remember Buffy The Vampire slayer?
Willow: Have you Googled her yet?
Xander: Willow, she's seventeen!
"Help" Season 7, Episode 4
Summation 2
See, Google is starting to become Evil.
Don't worry. I'm still in the early beta stages. I'll let you know when I've become fully actualized.
This guy's the limit!
Once I was feeling artistic, so I Googled how best to Xerox my head onto a Playboy Bunny, maybe using some Scotch Tape, but found out I could Photoshop it instead. So, I had a Coke, grabbed some Kleenex, and got to work.. but was disturbed by my mom coming in to Hoover. So I quickly shut down the PC, and decided to use Crayolas and Play-Doh instead.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
The english language is always evolving, the term to become a verb definately will weaken Google's legal stance.
Indeed, the English language is constantly changing to meet the needs of those who use it. Perhaps the word "definately" will one day find itself in the dictionary as well.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
Could someone Xerox it for me?
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
I agree. Both 'google' and 'slashdot', as verbs, have very specific meanings that are lost in generalization. For example, the other day, on some news site or other, I saw two links at the top of the story: "digg this" and "slashdot this". What they meant to say, of course, was "submit this story to (digg|slashdot)". However, to a long-time slashdotter (I have two UIDs, one orphaned, one active), "slashdot this" struck me as a Very Bad Idea, as it actually said "reduce this server to multi-kilobuck toxic sludge."
I still don't get it... Just how in hell would somebody search the internet without using Google?
"Do you 103569872, take 324091256 to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, until death or soylent green do you part?"...
I hope, when they die, cartoon characters have to answer for their sins.
"He insisted on programming the solution in Perl, but I googled him around a bit and he finally reprogrammed it in PHP." Translation: to bully.
"The manager wanted the TPS reports yesterday, but I told him my email must have been googled and that I would have to resend it." Translation: to get lost in a mess of seemingly incomprehensible data.
"She has nice legs, but I heard that one guy who asked her out got reprimanded by the googles." Translation: overly sensitive PC/PR lawyers who retain power through the threat of incoming litigation.
"I checked my stock balance the other day an my shares had dropped $200! I lost over a million dollars! Then I woke up and realized it was just a google." Translation: nightmare.
"I wanted to buy the new GM hybrid, but after I read the consumer safety warnings about its sneaky legal tactics, that googled me over to Toyota." Translation: to drive away customers via bad corporate reputation.
I would have done but its been slashdotted. Or is that Slashdotted. erm.
"So there he is, risen from the dead. Like that fella, E. T." - Father Ted Crilly
I always hated that when I worked at KFC.
Customer,"I'll have a coke"
Me, "here ya go"
Customer, "That's not what I wanted, I wanted orange!"
Me, thinking, "then why didn't you ask for orange, ya friken moron"
After that happened a number of times, I started asking which soda they wanted, which would end up turning into
Customer,"I'll have a Coke"
Me, "what kind of soda would you like?"
Customer, "Uh, what do you mean, I said Coke..."
Customer, thinking, "is this guy dense or something?!?!"
It was a lose-lose situation. Even though I didn't drink Pepsi, I was glad when they bought KFC. That turned it into:
Customer,"I'll have a coke"
Me, "We don't sell Coke, we have Pepsi"
Customer, "That's OK, I want orange."
Google is as bad as Micromart, Wal-soft, and LOL.
Not to forget Mike Rowe, the bastard...
*shakes fist*
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
Pepsi does not want people associating "Coke" with cola
Moot point. Have you ever been to a restaurant that serves BOTH Coke and Pepsi products?
Last time I tried to be funny with a waiter, I told him I wanted a Pepsi, and he replied "how about a Coke".
Me: "No I want a Pepsi"
Waiter: "Well, I could say 'ok' and bring you a Coke and not tell you about it"
I'm sure that question was on my entry forms last time I entered the USA....
> Have you ever participated in genericide?
and the #1 alternative to "I googled it":
This space intentionally left (almost) blank.
Yes, but did you know the number of horns and hooves used in Jell-o brand gelatin has tripled in the last three months?
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
That article could use a couple of more clear examples. Like the elephants in Africa that lost the rights of their own name since elephants tripled in population without preventing it themselves.
- Peter Brodersen; professional nerd
On related news, YouTube is taking legal steps against the US Senate for using its brand name to describe the internet ...
Senator Stevens was not available for comment ...
I googled a phrase that I'll xerox onto frisbees once I find a kleenex to wipe off the band-aid goo on the pretty kodak that'll be above the phrase.
That's ridiculous!
Children would be should be given GUIDs, not numbers like that. That way you wouldn't need a central number generator, which would be vulnerable to anarchists.
Or hydrogen bombs in wartime of course.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Obviously his recipe for Pepsi was (Pepsi = Coke + Spit) I never give my waiters a hard time :/
My father-in-law refuses to eat at a restaurant that serves Pepsi. It must be Coca-Cola. According to my wife, he has actually been known to walk out of places that serve Pepsi -- particularly if he's asked for a Coke and they bring him a Pepsi and don't tell him about it.
Whenever I ask for coke, all I get is this expensive white powder...
A monkey is doing the real work for me.
Your post is so informative, I suspect you wikied it.
OJ
"Artificial Intelligence usually beats real stupidity."