Google Magazine Search?

internetnews.com

"Google (Quote, Chart) may have found a way to make money from its still-in-beta News service without alienating publishers, as indicated by a patent application on file with the USPTO...There are two key elements of the patent: a method for executing a permission protocol so that the publisher could authorize Google to display more text from the relevant publication; and storing scanned versions of printed documents along with data sets representing the ads that went with them.

Google's problem with its News service is that there's no way to monetize it. News publishers would cry foul if it displayed contextual ads against their content, even if it is just headlines and openers. The patent application hints at a way to take that a step further. It would cover a process of scanning printed media and displaying them as search results "as a replica of the corresponding printed media." This method would maintain a news organization's or publisher's branding -- and it also would maintain the original ads.

But fast-moving tech companies don't tend to waste time on applying for irrelevant patents, said IP attorney John Rabena, a partner at Sughrue Mion, an intellectual property law firm.

"If Google has a patent application on something, they're probably doing it now," Rabena said. In his experience, technology and software companies don't go after a lot of patents. "They tend to stick to their core technology."

A gander at Google's patent portfolio seems to bear out Rabena's theory: The search advertising giant has six applications in the pipeline, three of them filed in 2004, along with seven patents. All but two relate to search; one is for a method of serving relevant advertising and another is for a method of displaying e-mail. "