Blogs are buzzing about Google's patent application for placing ads in RSS feeds. Battelle got it from TechDirt, which got it from ThreadWatch, which got it from the SEW Forum. But there's a curious thing about the application itself. Nowhere does it identify Google as the applicant. The listed inventor is Nelson Minar, whose online bio identifies him as a Google engineer. The word "Google" appears only twice in the entire application document: once as a figure reference, and once in passing.
1. It's not that curious. My understanding of patent law is that the claimed inventor must be an individual, or a set of individuals. Almost certainly Mr. Minor will be assigning the patent, once issued, to Google.
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Jason