A spoof is circulating around the Web that Local.com has been sold to Microsoft for $200 million — a significant markup from the public company’s current valuation at $60 million. The spoof suggested that the valuation was based on Local.com’s extensive patent holdings.

CEO Heath Clarke says there just isn’t any truth to any of it. He notes that the “release” has a date of Sept. 31 on it. He also says the company, which just cracked Nielsen’s Top 10 search providers in August, is in great shape as an independent entity, and has a host of valuable initiatives in the works.

We know that Microsoft also has great local plans for Bing and for MSN. Scott Moore and Cyrus Krohn are masterminding the MSN strategy and will address it at ILM:09 in L.A. in December. But for now, those plans don’t include folding in Local.com.

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