Have you noticed that the word “google” is being used as a verb?
Look at this sentence.
I had no idea what a fun palace was so I googled the expression.
Notice that it is even used with the appropriate tense forms.
But Google is really the name of the search engine of its company Google Inc. It is a trademark. The word describes a brand and the use of the word or brand belongs only to Google Inc.
While Google is still a trademark the word is now commonly used as a part of speech and when it is used everyone understands its meaning. It is now included as a verb in some dictionaries. See how it is defined in the Oxford English Living Dictionary online.
It is defined as:
Search for information about (someone or something) on the Internet using the search engine Google
It is also found in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. The definition is given as:
to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (someone or something) on the World Wide Web
I searched to find the dates of these additions and found that the Oxford English Dictionary added google as a verb in June 2006 and the Merriam-Webster added it in July 2006.
With google officially in the major dictionaries as a verb then it means that it has been officially adopted as a working part of the language. It now has a life beyond a trademark. However the dictionaries clearly relate the verb to the use of the specific search engine Google. It is quite possible though that some users of the verb google may mean a search by any search engine.
For the time being google as a verb is more often used in conversation. It may not yet be acceptable for use in formal or academic writing.
People are already using Photoshop as a verb and Skype as well. The Merriam-Webster dictionary has an entry for photoshop thus:
photoshop
transitive verb
:to alter (a digital image) with Photoshop software or other image-editing software especially in a way that distorts reality (as for deliberately deceptive purposes)
Language evolves and expands. What is happening to the use of google and photoshop as verbs has happened to other brand and trademarks before. Even words that are not trademarks are used as verbs. Take email for example. Originally a noun it is often used as a verb as in the following sentence. After the job fair he emailed his resume to several companies.
Often the momentum of these language changes cannot be stopped. Follow up and be aware of the newest changes to the language. Your writing is bound to include some of these new words at some point.