Google wouldn't be evil would it?

What do you do if your brand becomes so good and so successful at what it does that it morphs into a verb? That appears to be the question on the lips of Google's top people right now, and it looks like they're solution is to call in the lawyers and go after what they see as the genericide of their brand. If you're wondering what on earth genericide means, think of how you call your Dyson a Hoover, or how you calling sticky tape, sellotape.

In some ways though, is not the fact that people now talk of "googling" to refer to the generic act of searching the Internet (except for my wife who, having called it Goggle since 1999, is "goggling") the ultimate testament to Google's total ownership of the concept of searching the Internet? What's more, is there really anything a company can do once a word enters the lexicon in these ways?

Of course, Google can probably make sure dictionaries cite the corporate origin of the verb, but once the generic term becomes commonly used (as it arguably is now) what are they going to do? Sue everyone that utters it without citing the origin? That would surely be evil wouldn't it?