This is really interesting — Do you “Google?”
Google fears falling into the trap of the term ‘Google’ moving into generic use, such that it can no longer be used as a trademark. Here is an excerpt.
Usage: ‘Google’ as noun referring to, well, us.
Example: “I just love Google, they’re soooo cute and cuddly and adorable and awesome!”
Our lawyers say: Good. Very, very good. There’s no question here that you’re referring to Google Inc. as a company. Use it widely, and hey, tell a friend.Usage: ‘Google’ as verb referring to searching for information on, um, Google.
Example: “I googled him on the well-known website Google.com and he seems pretty interesting.”
Our lawyers say: Well, we’re happy at least that it’s clear you mean searching on Google.com. As our friends at Merriam-Webster note, to “Google” means “to use the Google search engine to find information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web.”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.
hahaaa come to think about it, it seems really possible tt google is indeed falling into generic use, because the statements you just made seem so….likely to happen!
Well, I’ve coined ‘Google-stalk’. I wonder what the lawyers think of that?
I am an avid Google user. Don’t know why anyone would use another search engine, although there are some that aggregate the results from Google with others (see e.g. Dogpile).