Google Patents 'Google Doodles'
Google has acquired a U.S. patent for its popular cycling logo system, also known as "Google Doodles." Patent 7,912,915 was granted on Tuesday, nearly 10 years after its initial submission in 2001 by Sergey Brin.
The patent is entitled "Systems and Methods for Enticing Users to a Web Site." The abstract states the patent is for the invention of "periodically changing story line and/or special event company logo to entice users to access a web page." In layman's terms, this means that Brin has patented the "invention"--and I use that term loosely--of changing Google's logo for special events and holidays.
There's a little more to the patent--it also covers a "periodically changing storyline" or changing the Google homepage periodically (over a series of days, say) to make a story. Google has done this a couple of times in the past, with its tribute to H.G. Wells in 2009, and its Dilbert comic strip doodle in 2002.
:story: Full story: PC World
