Decius wrote:

"Ever wonder how Google's site ranking works? Wonder no more. Google recently filed United States Patent Application 20050071741 on March 31, 2005."

The engineer in me wants to run out and read this patent right now.

The realist in me knows that if I have implemented a technology covered by this patent and I know it, I have to disclose it and pay a royality, so I'm better off not reading it... Not knowing.

The cynic in me thinks that the fact that lawyers advise engineers to never, ever read patents is another brick in the mound of evidence that our IP laws are not serving their original purpose.

This patent was dissected in great detail among the Blogo-SEO crowd. A search at Threadwatch.org would likely bear fruit, or if not, I can try to find it myself later.