Intellectual Property
Sep. 25, 2003
As other people begin 'googling' for information, a Google attorney turns to the case law for insight.
MOUNTAIN VIEW - As Bill Watterson noted in the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, "verbing weirds language." It certainly weirds out trademark owners. Conventional wisdom holds that a trademark should never be used as a verb or a noun, because such use can cause a trademark to become generic - that is, to become the name for the class of products or services. The advice trademark lawyers typically give their clients is:
It certainly weirds out trademark owners. Conventional wisdom holds that a trademark should never be used as a verb or a noun, because such use ca...
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