IP Democracy: Google Hits the Big Time Lexiconigraphically

Google has hit the big time, worming its way into our collective conscious in so many ways. As a reflection of Google’s impact on society, the Oxford English Dictionary has added “google” as a verb, according to this piece from the Motley Fool. As in “I googled my old boyfriend the other day.”

In the hopes of rivaling Google in the creation of new words, Motley Fool writer Anders Bylund (great name) writes that “verbing [emphasis added] isn’t always a good thing.”

Just ask Xerox how it feels about its company name becoming a synonym for photocopying, a word use the company has fought tooth and nail for many years. Trademarks such as Xerox have to be defended, or they risk lapsing into the public domain.

However, Bylund doesn’t think Google has anything to worry about because Xerox, for example, is still a huge player in its industry. I think it’s unlikely that anyone using a non-Google search engine (Yahoo, Ask, etc.) would ever refer to that search engine as Google.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on July 6, 2006 11:27 AM to IP Democracy