Do you Google? Yahoo!

According to CNET, Google intends to crack down on the use of its name as a generic verb, in phrases such as "to google someone," because of trademark issues. Google is obviously concerned that its brand name protection is weakened by becoming a generic verb. Other companies, such as Xerox, had similar concerns. Apple is also taking action to defend "iPod." The It’s On Target blog provides some more detailed legal background on the whole matter.

The blogosphere is irritated and interprets Google's move as a sign that the company is losing its once-cool façade. Steve Rubel brands it "one of the worst PR moves in history."

It didn’t take long for Yahoo! (whose tagline "Do you Yahoo?" was in place well before Google's emergence on the scene) to counter. On the company’s blog, Tara Kirchner from Yahoo! Search writes: “Most companies, including ours, spend a great deal of time trying to turn our brands into household names.” She uses the opportunity to promote Yahoo’s new "Your Yahoo! has changed" campaign that leverages the user-generated content trend by encouraging people to create their own commercials and thus hijack the Yahoo! brand. “People don’t often do what you want them to do, and brands are more about what consumers think than what companies want,” writes Kirchner. Yahoo!