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Google Fighting Verb Usage

posted on August 8, 2006


SEW reports on Google’s attorney’s attempts to stop media using “google” as a verb.

According to the (hand addressed) letter sent to the Washington Post Google has come up with some examples or suggestions to linguistically aid us in the future. What is appropriate is “He ego-surfs on the Google search engine to see if he’s listed in the results.”, and inappropriate language is “He googles himself.”

Well they need to get on the phone to T-Mobile, as I spotted this at DFW airport…


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  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/12722037 Nathan Gilliatt

    It’s capitalized on the sign. They might be ok.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/6804013 Jeremy

    What am I missing here? Why wouldn’t they want someone to use it as a verb? It’s not like their results are always that stellar. Google has the share that it does, at least to some point, because it’s viral.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/723624 Todd

    From my understanding, if it is used as a verb they’ll most likely lose some of their trademark rights associated with the brand name.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/1685318 Andy Beal

    You’re right Todd, Google is required to show that they actively police and protect their trademark, otherwise they could lose it.

    Question is, at what point does google (the verb) become so popular that they can’t afford to police every use?

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