December 15, 2006

Tired of not being able to find some patent information it needed, Google has decided to build its own patent search engine and has launched Google Patent Search.

Launched in beta version Dec. 13, Google's new patent search site is designed to look through the approximately seven million US patents by a variety of search parameters including filing date, issue date, patent number and the name of its inventor.

Google has made a name for itself with a simple but efficient Internet search engine. However, its niche search software such as for searching geographic data, literature or road maps has been a major part of what has categorized Google as being the best of the search engines.

As for its newest search site, its software engineers are still working on functions that allow patent searchers to easily save and print the patent information they get, according to a Google blog.

In addition, Google's new patent search engine doesn't currently include patent applications, international patents, or even United States patents issued since the middle of this year. However, Google did say that enhancements are in progress.

Overall, patents are issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which has its own patent search engine available on its Web site. In order to create Google's patent search, which goes back to the 1790s, the company converted the government site's data into what it claims is a more searchable format.

On Dec. 13, Google itself was just awarded another patent, Design Patent No. 533,561 for search results page design. Throughout the course of this year, it has also landed patents that deal with voice recognition technology and mobile phone advertising.

As it's often the case with U.S. patents, however, not every issuance has gone over smoothly. Google has faced numerous patent infringement lawsuits over its Google Toolbar, Google Earth and Google Talk.

Source: News ZD Net