Google's Patents Now On CD

Online searchers seeking to divine the future of Google The Company are often frustrated by ineffectual and incomplete online searches, but as of Monday, the search colossus' patent portfolio -- representing important clues to its future plans -- are being made available on CD.

Arnold Information Technology (ArnoldIT) said Monday that it is offering a CD-ROM with more than 120 patents that help create a roadmap of Google's future.

"This compilation is designed to provide a starting point for understanding Google's technology," said Stephen E. Arnold, president of ArnoldIT, in a statement. "Among the important patents included in this collection are the Google patent for individualizing search results, the patent for the use of time as a factor in PageRank relevance, and a 'de-duplication' patent for eliminating redundancy."

Arnold said the CD contains patents clearly assigned to Google, but also with patents that Arnold believes are not assigned to Google, but that were filed by inventors working on behalf of Google. While a straightforward Google search on the U.S. Patents Office site finds just 14 patents, ArnoldIT's compilation lists nearly 10 times that number.

Noting that the patents can well be viewed as an aid to Arnold's study of Google, "The Google Legacy", Arnold has said the Google patents he has compiled shed light on Google's plans for the future, plans that indicate the search company is directing its competitive attention initially at markets served by Yahoo! and later, increasingly at Microsoft.

Arnold said some of the key patents underscore "Google's technology for delivering specific results to particular users and for improving the quality and usefulness of results displayed in response to a user's query."

The CD is available for $50 from Arnold.