Google Patents Doodling!

March 24, 2011 -- It wasn't bad enough that Google tried to copy all the dusty books in all the research libraries in all the world.

Or that it photographed your swimming pool from space. Or snapped pictures of your home or devised a scary car that drives itself.

No.

Now the giant, omnivorous, all-aspiring, engine of search has patented doodling.

Does this mean that next time you put pen to paper you'll need to call California and ask permission first? Not exactly.

This week the Patent Office awarded Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder and head of technology with Patent # 7,912, 915 for what's known as the doodle.

On Google's home page, for those from Mars, near the top sits a single word, regal and immutable: 'Google.'

But while the word itself remains constant, its appearance varies, depending on the date, on world events, on historical anniversaries, or on the whim and humor of Google's half-dozen full time artist/doodlers.

Is today Thomas Edison's birthday? Then the letters that make up Google may be formed out of little light bulbs or other Edison's inventions. There might be animation. If you click on the word Google, you might hear Edison's voice. The whole thing is considered a Doodle.