Except search engines have sole control over the systems doing the calculations. It's easy to see how they could just go ahead and use the patented methods on t

Except search engines have sole control over the systems doing the calculations. It's easy to see how they could just go ahead and use the patented methods on their private servers, and no one on the outside would be able to legally prove that they copied their patented method, at least for a long time. Just some patents would never have kept competitors from moving in on this 200B market.