

Google Granted Design Patent for Its Homepage - terpua
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_patents_its_homepage.php

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pg
Note that this is a _design_ patent. This is not a patent in the ordinary
sense; it doesn't mean they're claiming ownership of the idea of a page with a
logo and a search box.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_patent>

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jaymon
Since it's a design patent you would have to be really, really, close to the
design laid forth in the patent to infringe it.

Will this invalidate all search type pages with a logo on top, an input box,
and a search button? No. Will this stop a company named go0g13 having a home
page with a search box, and two search buttons under the box? Most likely.

Honestly though, there is no need for internet outrage about a design patent,
taking off the "feeling lucky" button and not having a multi-colored logo
similar to Google's should be enough to skate around it.

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jacquesm
It really sucks when a company that supposedly has ethics high in their set of
values does things like this.

If they would just come out and say we're just like all the other cutthroats
out there it would be one thing, but to have all these lofty ideals and then
to do stuff like this at the same time creates a real problem.

People will start to think that this kind of patent is ok. It's not. It's a
web based user interface, a hole in a page with a couple of buttons next to
it. There have been many sites before google that started out with an
interface like that. The only thing special about the google page is that they
kept it like that.

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Perceval
Until there is patent reform, all companies will engage in this kind of cover-
your-ass patenting. There are too many patent trolls out there starting multi-
million dollar lawsuits on the basis of seemingly frivolous, obvious, or
otherwise vague patents. As a defensive measure, companies like Google,
Microsoft, Apple and so on attempt to patent everything they can possibly
think of in order to prevent lawsuits from patent trolls or rivals.

As they say, "don't hate the playa, hate the game." It was obvious in the late
1990s that intellectual property laws needed reform, and it's increasingly
obvious by the day when we see companies being forced to patent things that
appear obvious or trivial.

I don't think for a minute that Google is going to turn around and start suing
every other website with a minimalistic search interface as their landing
page. I think this is a purely defensive measure.

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brennannovak
I do not honestly know much about patents and the wording of laws, but on the
Wiki page about Design Patents the phrase "Thus a design that was arrived at
independently can still infringe a design patent." seems troubling. Hopefully
it's as Perceval says, that they are just covering their ass from patent
trolls.

Also Google's patent for "Collaborative web page authoring"
<http://bit.ly/2t287H> seems more disturbing than the design one.

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mhartl
_the two prominent button's_

<sigh>

