"There is a risk that the word 'Google' could become so commonly used that it becomes synonymous with the word 'search'. If this happens, we could lose protection for this trademark."
Last month saw Google being added to the Oxford English Dictionary as a verb. "To Google" has become a well known expression nowadays, such that the expression may not necessarily be associated with the search giant. This loss of brand isolation could spell bad news for Google in the distant future.
If you look at examples of why Google may be worried you may see that once big brands such as Aspirin, Hoover and Walkman (from Sony) were such strong brand names that the names became associated with the product and hence their trademark was lost and/or hampered.
The end result of the watering down of Google's trademark could be that other companies could use the word "Google" to refer to their own products and services, and objections from Google may leave Google without a leg to stand on legally.
All of this is seen by many as laughable: how can such a big and powerful company be itself afraid of being too big and powerful. But it is one that Google does indeed need to watch out for, and so is rightly not being taken too lightly at Google HQ.
