While Google continues to expand with everything from Web 2.0 applications to cell phone operating systems, its profitable mainstay, search, is under attack. A professor at Northeastern University claims that Google’s search engine infringes on U.S. patent No. 5,694,593, which the university has held since 1997.
The patent describes a method for searching through a database using different “nodes” in a network to distribute the work. Its inventor is listed as Northeastern Professor Kenneth Baclawski, who works alongside fellow professor Michael Belanger at Jarg Corp., a start-up company. According to Reuters, Belanger said that the company was forced to delay the case while searching for a law firm that would pick it up for a contingency fee, due to lack of resources.
