Don't Cheat, or Google Will Catch You!

Google filed a patent in Dec 31, 2001 for a similarity engine, and it was recently approved.  Basically it looks at the object (probably text article), and summarizes it into a product vector that you can then compare to other product vectors.

The full patent is provided.  Could this be the beginning of effective methods of policing content and enforcing copyrights?  I certainly hope so :-)

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7,158,961.PN.&OS=PN/7,158,961&RS=PN/7,158,961