AdWords was invented by Eric Veach, formerly of Pixar, wasn't it?

What does it mean to invent a product? Adwords is just a name. The actual system was built and rebuilt and improved many times. Eric did do a lot to make it a success though -- he's part of the reason why Google makes so much more money than Yahoo.

I guess I was saying invent as in "came up with the thing that differentiates it from everything else out there" - in this case, the auction system.