Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google Sends Legal Threats to Media Organizations

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the you-wouldn't-like-google-when-it's-angry dept.

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.""

5 of 449 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Google's legal team are idiots. Here's why.... by Todd+Knarr · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Not quite. Go look up the history of the word "xerox" for an example. Xerox lost the trademark on their own name over this exact issue. No company wants that.

  2. Can I get a Xerox of the warning letter? by nebulous_afterthough · · Score: 1, Redundant

    I need to Google it for my companies name.

  3. Joss Whedon, prepare for lawsuit. by w4rl5ck · · Score: 1, Redundant

    ... he used this back three or four years in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", season six. Forgot which episode, sorry.

    Dialog, roughly:
    "Did you google on her?" - "Jeez, Willow, she's 14!" - "No, I mean, did you do an internet research..."

    Google does no evil? Well, let's think again. I tend so think different lately.

  4. So much for "Do No Evil" by geeksdave · · Score: 0, Redundant

    So much for "Do No Evil"

  5. Re:I can't find my copy of the memo from Google, by MikeB0Lton · · Score: 1, Redundant

    After I find the Tylenol.