Google – an organization deeply committed to reforming our broken patent system – has just taken advantage of that very same system to get a patent for…well…nothing.
Google has just been granted US Design Patent No. 599, 372 S for a “graphical user interface for a display screen.” It looks like this:
Note – the design patent doesn’t include the dashed lines. And the logo is covered under copyright. Doesn’t leave much, does it?
Of course we all recognize Google’s homepage. But how many of us have been consciously thinking, “wow, what a groundbreaking GUI?” I seem to remember the first couple of HyperCard programs I created back in the 1980s looking pretty much the same – a field, a couple of buttons and some linked text.
Well, as I’ve commented before, I do believe that Google’s UI was innovative. But it wasn’t the simple positioning of a search field, some buttons and links that was novel. The novelty of Google’s home page was it’s notable absence of all but the most basic requirements. In other words, the innovation is the white space! So, Google has essentially received a patent for a void. That would make this perhaps the single most existential patent in the history of mankind.
What’s next? A patent for the sound of one hand clapping? If a tree falls in a forest and there’s no one there to hear it can I still patent it?
Dennis Crouch has also pointed out that Google did not submit any prior art with the patent claim. Gee, one piece of prior art jumps right out for me!
I understand that there are a range of strategic reasons to seek patents. I also realize that design patents get little traction in the courts. But given their moral high ground on patents I would suggest that for Google this is also a PR issue. On that basis I would hope Google puts this farcical example of a patent in a patent commons ASAP.
As for the USPTO…shame!
7 responses so far ↓
1 Twitter Trackbacks for Google Granted Patent For & About Nothing [gartner.com] on Topsy.com // Sep 4, 2009 at 3:18 am
[...] Google Granted Patent For & About Nothing blogs.gartner.com/brian_prentice/2009/09/03/google-granted-patent-for-about-nothing – view page – cached [...]
2 David Banes // Sep 4, 2009 at 4:28 am
On a related topic. Overall software patents are bad because they stifle innovation.
I look at software as a large collection of bytes, much the same way a building is a large collection of bricks, are there many building patents?
3 Eric Knipp // Sep 4, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I love it. The Seinfeld of patents.
4 Brian Prentice // Sep 4, 2009 at 8:01 pm
David Banes – I appreciate you taking the time to comment. Having said that I invariably get someone saying software patents are bad every time I post something about patents. I respectfully disagree. If you’re really worried about stifling innovation I suggest you turn your attention to trade secret law and, in particular, non-compete clauses in employment contracts which restrict the free flow of expertise. But patents come with a contingent responsibility to make your innovation publicly available so that others may improve upon it. That helps innovation!
Also, In this particular case we are talking about a design patent. But the issue here is not the existence of these patents but how the system could actually let something this laughable get through.
BTW – a building isn’t just a collection of bricks. It also includes a range of other high-tech materials and fixtures which often require many specialized tools to assemble. Chances are that there are plenty of patents across that broad range of products.
5 Brian Prentice // Sep 4, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Eric – ya, exactly. That’s what I was thinking. You know, this should be a patent. Just this commenting. Commenting about nothing.
What I’m saying is I go to the USPTO and the tell them I got this idea for a patent about nothing. Mind you, they’ll probably tell us Google already has a patent for that.
6 EMG // Sep 8, 2009 at 9:00 am
It’s a design patent. Basically the copying site would need to rip the google homepage exactly. It doesn’t have docterine of equivalents like a utility application. The USPTO is just protecting Google from exact rip-offs; slightly more than a copyright.
7 Go On Google, Sue Microsoft…I Dare You! // Sep 21, 2009 at 12:57 am
[...] I’ve noted, the design innovation of Google.com is basically the white space. That makes this a Seinfeld patent – it’s a patent about nothing. But let’s for a moment assume that a search field and a couple of pieces of hyperlinked text [...]
Leave a Comment