“The appeals panel said trademark loss to genericide occurs when the name has become an “exclusive descriptor” that makes it difficult for competitors to compete unless they use that name.”
Going back to your example, do people say I’m going to “Bing it” when they use Bing?
And remember, this forum doesn’t represent the average Internet user by any means. Just because you and I know the different between Google and Bing, and wouldn’t say “I’m going to google” something when/if we use Bing, doesn’t mean that other people would.
The more I think about it, the more the example of an out of touch parent calling everything a Nintendo is an accurate analogy. You and I, and everyone else on this forum would never do that because we’re aware that there are other consoles out there, but your average person might not. The Google example is even stronger becaues Nintendo doesn’t have nearly the market share in the console world that Google has in the search engine one.
I’m not saying that Google will lose its trademark, I’m just saying that it’s not as open and shut as you make it out to be.
I’d say there’s a generic term here. It’s not like band-aid’s generic term adhesive bandage, which nobody uses.
Search works just fine. “Let me do a quick search”. It doesn’t work in all cases:
“I’m gonna google him” vs “I’m gonna search him” aren’t even close. So I guess the legal question is whether or not the ways in which google has the only term are sufficient vs the places they don’t.
I think it will come down to the fact that Google is also a service mark, and it would be confusing and misleading for any other search engine to use the term “Google” in their marketing or on their site.
It’s a big deal money-wise, but meh? HTC was king of the phone world for a few minutes, but not now. They also bought Motorola Mobility. Did they also pick up what was left of Palm? So far, this strategy of acquiring the dead phone manufacturer is not working.
Google is twice as big as Samsung. Just buy them. Then you’ll make the earth shake.
I’m not entirely sure they want all the other shit that comes along with it. With how much cash the phone division makes, they wouldn’t sell it individually, so Google would end up stuck with TVs, engineering, petrochemicals, insurance, heavy industry vehicles and equipment, guns, machine tools, hotels and resorts etc. Not wanting to spread their interests too thin, as it were.