Hi,

I haven't dug too deeply into algorithm papers, patents, etc. (I still consider myself a beginner and think at that stage it just isn't a priority...though I'm actually very interested in such things and plan on reading about it more later).

Anyway, my question is this:

How come us SEOs can read about the search engines algorithms like that? I guess if the SE's could help it they would usually prefer to not show it to us.

Is there a law in the US that says if somebody invents a new algorithm and wants a patent for it they have to make it public so everyone can read it?

Why are there so many whitepapers (not sure if I understand this word a 100% correctly, but I think I know what it means)? Is this purely research issued by somebody and then the search engines try to get those people on board if they see they came up with some research that might help their algorithms - but once the whitepaper is out, it has already spread all over the web so it's sort of a footprint that SEOs/webmasters can read?

I must say I'm really confused why us SEOs have the chance to simply read this kind of stuff. What are the reasons?

thanks

In the US patents are public domain but at the same time, lawyers who specialize in writing patents make them as vague or complicated as possible.

lawyers who specialize in writing patents make them as vague or complicated as possible.
Yep, and that's why reading Bill Slawski (http://www.seobythesea.com/) is such a valuable use of time.

Yep, and that's why reading Bill Slawski (http://www.seobythesea.com/) is such a valuable use of time. 100%!!! Bill's blog seobythesea.com is an excellent resource for anyone interested in the latest search industry patents.

ah, I see..so patents do have to be published, but there are lawyers which specialize in law (obviously lol) and another discipline such as 'web stuff' in order to make sure the patent will say as little as possible?

P.S.: nice blog, I'll take a more in-depth look at it later

Actually the patents themselves have to be as complete as possible. They're a mish-mosh to folks like me because of the technical terms and jargon used and the patent-language format in which they're written. It should be no problem for other search theorists and applications folks to recreate things.

And many new works and improvements are based on previous works and patents as can be seen here by the ones that simply reference PageRank (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=0&f=S&l=50&TERM1=pagerank&FIELD1=&co1=AND&TERM2=&FIELD2=&d=PTXT) somewhere along the line.

thanks jim, so they're hiring lawyers who specialize in that, because they have to be as complete as possible (and not because they're trying to hide things they don't have to put in them)?

ahh..I'll never ask a law question, again unless it's really necessary :-) Im actually studying business law now (which Ive been doing for the last 2 months a few couple of hours a day), as it's the hardest exam I have coming up this semester - at least I'm almost done :-)