IMVironments – the little background themes for Yahoo Messenger – have gotten Yahoo in a lot of trouble.  The company’s lost a patent infringement case that concerns them, and as a result, is supposed to pay a subsidiary of Acacia Research Corporation $12.4 million.

Google has been granted a quite interesting patent for "Claiming Real Estate in Panoramic or 3D Mapping Environments for Advertising". The company filed the patent back in the summer of 2008. The abstract reads:

Using YouTube may become a much less passive experience in the near future.  Google’s received applied for a patent on a "Web-based system for [the] generation of interactive games based on digital videos," and several facts point to the search giant moving ahead with the idea.

It looks like at least a few of Google’s lawyers who specialize in patent law are about to get some work to do.  Google – along with Adobe – has been sued by a company named Textscape because the search giant allegedly violated a patent Textscape was granted in 1998. 

It looks like some of Facebook’s lawyers will soon be making a trip to Delaware.  A small company called WhoGlue, which is based in Baltimore, has sued the large social network over a patent WhoGlue was granted in July of 2007.

In early 2004, Google’s lawyers didn’t have nearly enough to do.  A patent on the design of Google’s homepage (AKA its "[g]raphical user interface for a display screen of a communications terminal") that they applied for at that time was granted Tuesday.

Let us know what you think in the comments section.

Update: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has reportedly granted Microsoft’s motion to stay an injunction that would prohibit the software giant from selling Word. The injunction had an effective date of Oct. 10, but the motion to stay blocks the injunction until the appeal process is complete, according to The Microsoft Blog.

A set of product placement ads for Microsoft’s Bing ran during NBC’s The Philanthropist. The ads showed two of the characters from the actual show in scenes in which Bing was being used – clearly ads, but still integrated with the actual program.

A patent for "systems and methods for improving the ranking of news articles" was granted to Google yesterday. It was originally filed in 2003.

All the way back in 2003, Google filed a patent application for "Methods and systems for assisted network browsing. That patent has been granted this week. The patent abstract reads:

A patent application filed by Yahoo is causing a bit of a stir within the SEO community. The patent is for an "Automated System to Improve Search Engine Optimization on Web Pages." The abstract for the patent reads as follows:

Bill Slawski at SEO By the Sea talked about a very interesting concept today regarding a social fashion search engine in which you would submit measurements and create a 3D model of your body to create a profile. You would then more easily be able to shop for clothes and shoes online based on a variety of variables.

Microsoft has filed a patent for a "Metered Pay-As-You-Go Computing Experience." The exact words of the filing’s abstract are as follows:

Microsoft filed a patent application several years ago for the censoring of real-time audio streams, and that patent has now been granted. In other words, Microsoft has patented live "bleeping". The patent abstract says:

Amazon has been awarded a patent for the concept behind its "Top Reviewers" program. The company apparently filed for this patent back in April of 2001. The abstract goes:

Google’s been giving a lot of thought to the future lately with all of its posts from experts in their respective fields on the Official Google Blog.

Microsoft is just not having much luck with the publicity of their latest $300 million ad campaign. I’m sure you are well aware of the Seinfeld fiasco. In case you’re not, Microsoft kicked off this huge campaign with a pair of long and drawn out ads featuring Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

Google’s quest for global domination organization is taking a step further as it moves out into the ocean. Yes, Google intends to have a presence not only in outer space, but in the sea as well.

Would you believe that Microsoft has just patented the concept utilized by the "page up" and "page down" keys commonly found on computer keyboards? That seems to be the case according to U.S. Patent number 7,415,666.

Dell thought they could take the phrase "cloud computing" and keep it for themselves. It appears (for the time being at least) that they will have no such luck.

The company filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to trademark the term, but its request has ultimately been denied because it has been established as a generic term.

The week is not off to a great start for Google.  GraphOn Corporation issued a release bright and early this morning stating that it is suing the search giant for patent infringement.