The all-to-familiar face of Google's search results page has been the basis for many a SERP over the past few years.  Last week that interface received some attention from the U.S. Patent and Trademark office when it awarded Google a patent on the layout of its search results page.  News.com covered the story and spoke to many legal experts about what the patent could and couldn't be used for.

According to those experts, the patent applies only to the visual elements of the Google SERP.  It doesn't apply to any underlying technology or process.  So while none of the other search engines should have to scramble to adapt their technology, any visual elements taken from Google might be in violation of the new patent.

As one of News.com's interviewees said, "If you're dumb enough to [copy Google's SERP exactly], then why shouldn't you be sued?"