Patent Law

Google’s April Fools’ Day Switcheroo to Topeka Brand Name

By Douglas J. Sorocco, J. Matthew Buchanan, Laura C. Woods and Emily E. Campbell.

Google® takes the prize for one of the best April Fools? Day pranks of 2010. If you haven?t heard, be sure to visit www.google.com before the days end.  Also, check out The Official Google Blog for more information about their ?new? company name, Topeka.  The best part of the Google blog post is at the bottom.  Google notes that branded products can achieve such popularity that they can sometimes become generic (much like aspirin, cellophane and trampoline).  To be sure that Google?s new name is not subject to genericism, Google provides tips on how to use their new name.

Kudos to Google for a great April Fools? Day prank!

Also thank you to Owen Smigelski (a fellow member of the International Trademark Association (INTA)) e-mail list, who pointed me to the Google blog post.

Full post as published by Phosita on April 01, 2010 (boomark / email).