Google files single-click patent

[intelliot]

Google has filed a patent application for technology that lets mobile phone users click on a Web-page ad and be connected via a voice call to the advertiser.

It should be noted that Google hasn't actually received this patent; just that they've filed it.

Users at the moment can wirelessly search an online database for a nearby business and then click on a link on the results page to automatically call the business. But Google's application is specific to clicking on advertisements and by narrowing the click-to-call parameters, Google could win a patent, Chatterjee said.

However, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is fairly strict when it comes to issuing business methods patents - the category under which this application would fall. Only about one in 10 such applications are approved.

Businesses often submit many patent applications in hopes that just a couple of them will be approved. The USPTO (United States Patent & Trademark Office) has been often criticized for awarding software patents. Richard M. Stallman (RMS) has done lectures on the dangers of software patents.

Personally, I agree with most of his points. His lectures can be found on Google Video.

Earlier this week, the USPTO and a group of companies led by IBM announced a new program aimed at improving the quality of patents.

The Google patent was filed in June 2004 and published by the patent office last week. The inventor of the patent is named as Shumeet Baluja, a senior research scientist at Google. Google could not be reached for comment.

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The patent office may be in trouble. Although patents are often to the advantage of large businesses, they have made it seem like their goal is to protect the small inventor. In reality, they might only be stifling innovation, and making the world suffer for it.