Is the next patent dust-up to be in paid search?

Ericsson wants to be a toll collector on the connectivity road. Now Erin-Michael Gill, CIPO of MBD Capital Group, has expounded on the size and quality of Yahoo!’s patent portfolio, especially as they touch on internet search and advertising.

Yahoo! currently has over 1,000 patents in the U.S., and two-and-a-half times that in applications pending. In particular, in 2003 Yahoo! acquired Overture, which owned a patent on pay-per-click advertising. Google thought enough of the patent to settle with Yahoo! prior to their IPO. What about others? The value of that patent is directly related to the number of infringers and the owner’s willingness to pursue them. As Yahoo! appears to be wooing suitors, IPBlog feels the pay-per-click advertising patent is probably close to page one of a prospectus.