[mv] (off-topic) - BT claims a patent on hyperlinks

["Eran Binyamin Zeitoun" <eran_zeitoun@karmail.com>]

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BT claims a patent on hyperlinks

<!--British Telecom believes it owns a 14-year-old patent on one of the keys
to the Internet.
And, if upheld, it could start to ask for payments.-->

British Telecom believes it owns a 14-year-old U.S. patent for the World
Wide Web's hyperlink
technology and has hired an intellectual property specialist to ensure it
can commercialize the patent, in court if necessary.
Buried amongst 15,000 global patents, BT claims it discovered its lapse
during a routine update of its intellectual property. Hyperlinks are used to
connect to other words, pages or pictures on the Internet and are central to
its operation.
If the find is upheld, BT could be given the go ahead to pursue money from
American ISPs -- a tactic it has already
initiated. "It is regrettable that we weren't involved in the Net from the
ground up," explains a spokesman.
"What we are looking to do is charge U.S. ISPs for using our intellectual
property, that is fair."
WWW War I?But British Telecom's vision of what is fair is bound to meet with
fierce resistance in the U.S.,
where Internet legislation is increasingly frequent. "There is no doubt this
will lead to a massive battle in America,"
says Robin Bynoe, Net expert with London law firm Charles Russell.
Bynoe is not convinced that, even if BT does own the patent, that it can sue
for infringement. "Just because there is a
patent doesn't mean it is for what they [BT] say it's for. You can bet that
if BT does go for this in the courts, they
will meet major litigation. They need to think about that."
And BT cannot afford more PR shame: recently the company published the names
and personal details of customers
who had signed up for its ADSL offering. Many of those customers are seeking
recourse through Oftel and trading
standards bodies. Its rollout of unmetered access in the UK has been
overshadowed by rows and campaigns accusing
the telco of greed and acting in the interests of its shareholders rather
than the general public.
"Yet again," says an ISP who requested anonymity, "we see the ugly head of
BT's greedy self emerge to frown at users
who are not lining its pockets. This really is going too far and I expect
them to suffer badly at the hands of the press
and the users of the Net both here and in America."
Scipher, the specialist helping BT with the patent application, did not
return calls at press time.
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I wonder when pepole will start making patents on words...., colors and some
other basic stuff....







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