No need to look too far for prior art: joshua schacter, our geowanking
list host, launched geourl back in 2002: a way to geocode and search
web pages
see: http://web.archive.org/web/20021212042803/http://www.geourl.org/
Andrew Turner wrote:
Local.com was awarded a patent on Geocoding & Geographic search (filed
2005)
This seems like an amazing patent to be awarded, especially since the
idea of geographic indexing and search is not new. How was this
awarded, and is this for real?
If so, a huge number of geographic companies, software, and formats
are infringing. In fact, I would assume anyone reading this email is
directly affected by this wrongly-awarded patent.
Abstract:
A local search engine geographically indexes information for searching
by identifying a geocoded web page of a web site and identifying at
least one geocodable web page of the web site. The system identifies a
geocode contained within content of the geocoded web page of the web
site. The geocode indicates a physical location of an entity
associated with the web site. The system indexes content of the
geocoded web page and content of the geocodable web page. The indexing
including associating the geocode contained within content of the
geocoded web page to the indexed content of the geocoded web page and
the geocodable web page to allow geographical searching of the content
of the web pages.
TechCrunch coverage of Local.com's patents
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/02/patent-wars-localcom-nabs-local-search-patent/
Patent Filing:
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7231405.html
Analysis - but only from the point of view about how much Local.com
will cash in on the patents:
http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/070629/39741_id.html?.v=1
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