This comment on my last post about Google's Moon Shot (from Search, Marketing and Musings) is more interesting than the post itself, so I include it in full here.  The lessons here are so numerous and the paradigm shift so profound, that every commercial litigator, transactional lawyer and business person should be closely attending to the way Google is re-writing not only the internet, but intellectual property and the practical application of the law (and litigation) as tools to achieve commercial ends.  

Have I quoted google on litigation before?  I will again.  Litigation is simply a business negotiation being conducted in the courts. 

Alan Rimm-Kaufman - February 12, 2007 08:39 AM Thanks for the link! Whereas much of Google's dominance is based on habit (eg one could envision an upstart capturing hearts and keyboards away from G by better technology or marketing, similar to what G did to Y and AV over the last 8 years), some parts of Google's power rests on more permanent legal & technical structures -- fiber & bandwidth contracts, patents, IP settlements, etc. That's why I think the G books possible settlement described in the New Yorker piece could be really important -- we might look back on this in a few years and note the settlement (if and when it occurs) was a real fundamental lock-in 'brick' in the Google foundation... Cheers!