Actually, utility is one of the core requirements for a patent in the U.S. Whether or not PageRank on a tiny data set is still "useful" would be a ? for the pat

Actually, utility is one of the core requirements for a patent in the U.S. Whether or not PageRank on a tiny data set is still "useful" would be a ? for the patent office, but if it were deemed not useful, that would be grounds for denial.