Googol family may sue Google over name
18 May 2004
The family of Columbia University professor Edward Kasner, inventor of the word Googol, believe they should receive some form of compensation from search giant Google for use of the term.
Googol, the word on which Google's name is based, means 10 to 100th power or a 1 with 100 zeros following it. Professor Kasner is believed to have come up with the word Googol at the suggestion of his nine-year-old nephew, Milton Sirotta.
The Baltimore Sun reports that Prof Kasner's great-niece, Peri Fleisher, believes that Google has gained financially at the expense of the original term googol and wants to see some financial recompense. Professor Kasner passed away in 1955.
Google acknowledges where its name originated from on its corporate information page, writing: "Google's play on the term reflects the company's mission to organize the immense amount of information available on the web."
When asked by the Baltimore Sun if they thought Google was obligated to compensate the family, Ms Fleisher said: "Legally, that's an open question we're exploring. But ethically, courteously, yes. I see some hypocrisy there. They have ignored us. Other than changing a couple of letters on the name, they are capitalizing on it. This is a business. These guys are going to make billions of dollars. It's not a cute little thing."
Ms Fleischer, a compensation specialist for a Silicon Valley firm, told the newspaper that the family wanted to operate as insiders for Google's forthcoming IPO. She said she had written to Google but had not received a reply.
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