Did Google steal Overture’s idea? Not really, says Gross. “We didn’t patent the idea. So if we don’t patent it, they can copy it.” Yet Gross is convinced the concept of a cost-per-click, auction-based search-advertising system would have been patentable, in retrospect. By the time he thought to do it, though, it was too late. Overture did file for a slew of other patents peripheral to its system, and sued Google for infringement when it came out with the revamped AdWords in 2002. The case was settled in 2004, with Yahoo getting a big chunk of Google stock in exchange for the rights to Overture’s intellectual property.
Will Oremus cuenta en este artículo en Slate como Google copió y mejoró el modelo de negocio que había inventado GoTo.com (más tarde Overture) para dar lugar a AdWords y AdSense. Y es que no siempre tienen éxito los primeros, ni los que inventan algo, sino quienes saben sacarle partido.
