NEWS

Linking Patent Goes to Court

BT Group Plc, a US company, claims that it has a patent covering hypertext links -- i.e., the wonder of the internet that allows anyone to click on a link and go to another webpage like this. A U.S. federal court will hear preliminary arguments next week to determine if this most elemental of Internet activities is the business property of a lone company, protected in the form of a patent.

This one is for overlawyered.com. It is undisputed that this company obtained a 1989 patent on web linking. The web community, however, has pointed to earlier versions of hypertext linking prior to BT Group's obtaining a patent, the earliest of which is 1968 demonstration from Stanford University.Where do you think it's gonna go? If it goes in favor of BT Group, then it is going to be very expensive for each member of the internet community. I pray it doesn't go that way.