So speculating on why Google wants ITA software ranges from the good to the bizarre.

The usual candidates are its Search Business, its software and its expertise. But I have another idea. In addition to the above - how about it wants to become a huge player in the overall travel space and can do that with the significant library of ITA's Patents

Let me list a two of them...

The Needlebase Patent - United States Patent 7668740 - www.freepatentsonline.com/7668740.pdf

Fare Construction Patent US Patent 6263323 - www.freepatentsonline.com/6263323.pdf

I wont spoil your fun by listing them all - but there are a lot of them. The categories range from payment to user interface to shopping as well as the obvious. And these are but a few. You can be darn sure that right now there are a bunch of lawyers pouring over these little gems.

And there are a whole lot more being filed and in the works.

Think about it.

If you are in the business of travel - perhaps you should be afraid now. If high priced Google patent pit bull attack lawyers get a hold of these - those of us in Travel Technology will have a very miserable life.

Scary?... Yup - now you see why that $1 billion number is not that bad.

Cheers
Thanks for reading - private comments please to professorsabena@gmail.com

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