How would you feel if all you'd ever been told about monitoring patent applications was a lie? What if the SEO experts told you all these lovely things because they themselves were fooled by Google's own patent marketing? Allow me to explain.

This semester, I'm taking Industrial and Intellectual Property. Prof. Gold is great, a funny guy, but most of all he's sharp. (Which is why you're gonna give me an A, right professor?) In our most recent class, we considered a case study comparing the development of digital watches back when these were still new technology. What follows is a rough paraphrasing of my notes, from memory.

On the one hand were the Swiss, who were complacent market leaders. Their foray into the market was funded by a consortium made up of a variety of small watchmakers, with some varying degrees of professional jealousy and apprehension. The Swiss were mostly concerned about protecting their market share and not particularly inclined towards developing this new technology.

On the opposite site of the world were the Japanese, lead by Seiko. Seiko had a leading market share in the Japanese watch market. They gave the task of developing digital watches over to a certain Dr. Nakamura, who was better funded and at leisure to pick and choose his staff as he saw fit.

What was at stake for the Japanese was much different. Not only were they not global players in watches, but this was happening at a time where Japanese goods had a reputation for poor quality. Think brand China (minus the repression, censorship, and Tibet) and you'd get an idea of brand Japan's positioning in Western minds.

In the end, the Japanese beat the Swiss to the punch and are credited with having developed digital watches. But more importantly, with Seiko and subsequently other companies such as Honda patenting things constantly - even when there was little to no chance of the patents being used - they developed a reputation for innovation. And that reputation paid off for Seiko, and for brand Japan more broadly.

Let me be clear: I'm an unconditional fan of Bill Slawski. I - and innumerable others in this industry - owe him a debt of gratitude for teaching me a great many things via his blogging, for being kind enough to add me to his blogroll when I was just starting out (and as the link shows, much inclined to the naive belief that Google used any decent idea it got a hold of), and much more. Considering the achievements (most recently earning the position of Director of Search Marketing at Key Relevance), it's incredible how humble he remains.

But 20 Ways SEs May Rerank the Results? May is the keyword .