14 DAY TRIAL // Google's homepage design may be iconic, but now it's patented too. The dead-simple layout was apparently innovative enough to warrant an official recognition from the US Patent and Trademark Office. But don't think it was an easy decision for the government organization, as it took five years for the patent application to be approved, as reported by Gawker's ValleyWag.
To be fair though, the patent system is suffering from a heavy backlog and it usually takes two to three years for an application to go through the whole process, and sometimes even more, as it was the case with Google. Even so, this may have been a particular case, as Google's search results page, for which the company also filed an application in 2004, was granted a patent in 2006 by the USPTO. Along with the more high-profile homepage patent, Google also received patents for a browser-based spell checker, as well as one for “collaborative web page authoring.”
The patent for the homepage design itself contained just one image, in keeping with the simplicity theme, with the now-familiar layout, a search box in the middle with two buttons underneath and several links scattered around that. Ironical perhaps is the fact that Google's homepage has actually changed since the patent application was filed and the category links that were above the search bar are now placed on top of the page. It's unclear how these changes will affect the validity of the patent, though.
What's even more interesting is that Yahoo's latest search page is actually now more similar to the patent of Google's own current homepage. Still, it's unlikely Google will go after Yahoo, or any other website for that matter, now that it was granted the patent and will probably just use it in case of a blatant rip-off, which would be misleading to its users. That is unless, of course, it forgets its “don't be evil” motto.
