Google Sued Over Name, Yahoo Next

Professor Edward Kasner invented the word 'Googol' in the 1940s to describe a very large number, "the number 1 followed by a hundred zeros." Now, some of his descendants are suing search engine company Google for "capitalizing on the name" without actually using Kasner's mathematical concepts. Peri Fleisher, Kasner's great-niece, has complained that Google is "playing off that number and not compensating them even a little bit."

Google is the second prominent Internet company this year to face a lawsuit over the origin of its name. The descendants of Lemuel Gulliver, whose famous travels were first described by Jonathan Swift in 1726, have sued Yahoo!, claiming that they hold the rights to the Internet giant's distinct brand. Late in his life, Gulliver traveled to Houyhnhnmland, where he met a malicious but cowardly group he called the 'Yahoos.' Jedediah Gulliver, Lemuel's great-great-great-great-great-great grandson, said in a suit that he will no longer allow Yahoo! to use the name his famous ancestor invented, but he will permit the company to change its name to 'Houyhnhnmland.'