Posted on 08/16/2006 3:11:01 PM PDT by holymoly
Aspirin was/is a brand name in Canada. Kerosene was a brand name at one time the the U.S.
If Google were smart, it would start a campaign along the lines of, "When you 'google' something, be sure you really Google (tm) it. Accept no substitutes!" ... that sort of thing. Such would underscore their point (that not EVery internet search is truly a Google search) without making them seem petty.
The number I suspect you're thinking of that sounds like "google" is actually spelled "googol" = (IIRC)
the digit "1" followed by 100 zeroes.
Some folks really don't know when
they've got it good. Amazing.
Sorry, it's way too late for this. I even read this phrase in a book the other day. And it wasn't a brand new book either, had to be a year or two old, since it was "now in paperback". According to the cover it had been a NY Times #1 best seller(fiction). They should be proud of inventing a new word and let it go at that.
Think I'll go google google!
what Ultra-maroons!
(No, seriously. I want to know)
"Want a coke?"
"Yeah."
"What kind?"
"Doctor Pepper."
(That's Texas talk.)
They must of had a lawyer help them with the spelling.
I am going to wipe the tears from my eyes with a Kleenex after I Xerox this document. Oops! I spilled my Coke.
Need a Band Aid for that wound?
Ooops.
Fedex this....
This horse is out of the barn and five miles down the road by now.
Yes, but there are also a lot more companies making copiers now than in the 70s, so was it really a good thing for Xerox that its name is no longer synonymous with "photocopy"? The very best copier I ever used was a Kodak.
google google google google google google google google
If you publish anything for profit, probably.
It's great advertising for them so I don't understand this complaint at all. It's stupid.
If you don't enforce a trademark, you eventually lose it. It comes to be considered a generic term. That's in the law for good reason -- so that, say, Bayer can't let everyone use the word "aspirin" and then decades later snap the trap shut.
As far as the other examples mentioned in the thread, pick up a copy of Writer's Digest or another magazine aimed at writers -- you'll see ads for Xerox, Rollerblade, Band-Aid, Kleenex, Jeep and other brands commonly used generically, reminding writers that those are brand names, and they are not to be used in lowercase or as verbs.
The author of "Praying for Sheetrock" was forced to put a trademark statement on the cover of later editions (and maybe pay some money, I'm not sure) because Sheetrock is a brand name owned by U.S. Gypsum (the generic term is drywall).
They must of had a lawyer help them with the spelling.
Almost certainly. "Googol," as a common word, would be more difficult to trademark; Google, a made up word, is easy to document as original. That's why light beer is spelled l-i-t-e; Miller thought they could trademark the variant spelling, but they lost that battle in court.
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