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Google Patents Telling Time

Posted by timothy on from the ok-ok-I'm-with-theo-on-this-one dept.

theodp writes "Will Google's battle against Microsoft and Apple over their use of 'bogus' patents result in greater scrutiny of its own IP holdings? Take Google's new patent on 'Electronic Shipping Notifications' (please!), which might pique the interest of Amazon.com, UPS, the USPS and others in the shipping business, since providing customers with guesstimates of what time The King of Queens will show up at their door with Christmas presents could now constitute patent infringement. From the patent: 'The broker sends an electronic message, such as an email or text message, to the customer prior to the estimated shipment arrival time to inform the customer of the impending arrival. The customer can thus arrange for someone to be at the shipping address to receive the shipment at the estimated arrival time.' To help the USPTO understand its invention, Google supplied this diagram."

2 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Nothing to see here by bonch · · Score: 0, Troll

    Google even patented the changing of their logo for holiday events, filed by Sergey Brin himself.

  2. Re:This is clearly a valid patent by bonch · · Score: 1, Troll

    This is a great defense fans have invented here for Google. Every company should use it. "It's okay when we do it! We're just trying to show how bad the patent system is!"

    P.S. They also patented the changing of their logo for holidays back in 2001.