I use the email alerts offered by www.CNet.com to stay on top of news happening in industries that I’m interested in. One story that I picked up was about Google trying to put an end to “googling.” Apparently, they are worried about the name becoming too common and loosing its prestige.

This case reminds me of the problem that Kleenex had. Their company name, Kleenex, became so strongly associated with nose tissue that any other nose tissue that came out was also called a kleenex. They tried to sue for trademark infringement but the judge agreed that “kleenex” was now a part of the English language. They were able to protect their logo (basically “Kleenex” in a cursive font) but the word was now free game for anyone to use to describe their product.

The main difference that I see between Kleenex and Google is that there is little probability that a search engine can become a household commodity which hundreds of companies produce. When I think ”I’m going to google that” I don’t then type something in at yahoo.com. I go to Google.com.

The worst thing about this is that it tarnishes Google’s image as a cool, young company and makes it appear more anal, bureaucratic, and Microsoft-like.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006 and is filed under SEO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.