killroy - 11:04 am on Apr 2, 2005 (gmt 0)

Ok a few points. Is it just me or do they try to patent something and it's opposite at the same time?

Secondly, I wrote a search engine before dec 2003 using some of these features, do I have to go back end remove them, because somehow I time travelled and stole Google's inventions from the future? ridiculous.

and lastly, don't forget the preemtive patent-strike wars. This patent might simply be a defensive measure against some patents held by Yahoo or MS that could threaten Google. sort of: "If you [MS] won't let us use single word queries, we won't let you use page age and links as part of your ranking"

SN