This is almost certainly due to trademark protection. I'm surprised this isn't mentioned in the original article.
If "Google" as a verb becomes a genericized trademark[1] then they lose a lot of their trademark protection.
If "Google" as a verb becomes a genericized trademark[1] then they lose a lot of their trademark protection.
Don't be, there's a witch-hunt on Google right now. Nothing but the most negative-spin on them will be reported for the next few months until everyone calms down about reader.