I was a little upset regarding this issue, BT ( british Telecom) is suing Prodigy Internet for using HyperLink and make this as a testcase, and if they win, they will go for other company that uses Hyperlink, that means anyone who uses hyperlink on their site, they need to pay a license fees, DO u think this is fair?

i think this will kill the Internet!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/sci_tech/2000/dot_life/newsid_1814000/1814080.stm

I agree with you that if they win it will hurt the internet. However, I think that the chance of them winner is verry litte. But I can not rule out a victory for BT. I have seen some weird court rulings.

Originally posted by henryclay
I have seen some weird court rulings. I suppose anything could happen. But one thing has changed since BT filed this suit a year or so ago -- or at least, one thing has come to light: there were several implementations of what could be called "hyperlink" technology long before that patent was granted, and going back to the early 60s. After the suit was filed, there was a sort of grassroots effort to thwart it; people searched everywhere for what many knew existed: examples of similar approaches that pre-dated BT's patent.

Having been granted a patent is no ironclad protection, and the now well-documented existence of what in the patent world might be called "prior art" will give BT a tough time in the case.

Check this out, if you haven't already: this video is from 1968. Skip to clips 7 and 8. Looks like hyperlinking...

http://sloan.stanford.edu/mousesite/1968Demo.html

Hi all!

My initial reaction would be, why now? (just a curious question).

My second reaction is, how stupid! (sorry for the word -- kids don't imitate). This is my first time to say that in public.

One thing I can be sure of... BT will certainly get a bad reputation from the internet industry whether it wins the case or not.

If the case prospers, then it will certainly cause a damage. In fact, ISPs will not be losing (in my opinion). They will simply pass the cost to their end-user.

I suddenly remember the case of a GIF technology. I don't know what is the update on this case.

(no smile icon for this post)

Originally posted by ewdi
[B]I was a little upset regarding this issue, BT ( british Telecom) is suing Prodigy Internet for using HyperLink ...

BT = Debt = Huge = Major = Bankrupcy

Thats why theyre doing it! Only problem is this would be highly difficult to implement.

Now just from google i can see:

2,073,418,204 Pages have been indexed, now lets say for arguments sake that each of those sites has approximately 40 hyperlinks on, which wouldnt be unreasonable.

thats 82,936,728,160, yes thats alot of hyperlinks, and id say there are way more than that even.

Now imagine BT going to all of the sites that contain the links and asking them for money?

They would need to have a team of thousands just to check people are licensed.
if you had a team of 1000 people then each person could be responsible for 2,073,418 sites each, even still thats unrealistic, imagine you as a person trying to track 2 million web sites to make sure they are licensed?

They may win, but id say they would go bankrupt trying to implement it, if they dont before hand!

Then you have to think about the people that will rebel against them, hackers galore take down BT's servers, sites, everything in spite just to Pi55 them off.

People stop using their phone lines, stop using their broadband, cut them out of the loop, hey, it would be their worst nightmare come true, because I for one wouldnt be using their services if they done anything like that (not that i do at the moment anyways)

This is just another wonderful example of a large companies board opening their collective mouths before they've shifted their brains into gear.

Makes you wonder sometimes how these companies get to be market leaders when there's obviously no-one at the wheel :)

Greg Moore

The patent is only valid in the US though ;)

You'll all have to move your servers to the UK and use BT's lines :buck:

What it really shows is something far more important: How badly messed up patent laws are.

Douglas

i will post some follow up soon

Originally posted by xtstrike
Now imagine BT going to all of the sites that contain the links and asking them for money?They wouldn't have to.

The current lawsuit names only Prodigy. Presumably, playing it out in the case of a BT win, they'd ask for damages for Prodigy's past use of their "proprietary" hyperlinks. Probably that's one reason they picked Prodigy; it's an old operation as ISPs go.

So they'd collect damages for past use, and sell a license allowing unlimited future use. Then move on to the next ISP victim -- they'd never, under that scenario, have to keep track of the number of times every individual in the US clicks on a link.

To be clear, I don't think it will happen... but that's likely the way they'd approach it if the courts go along with them.

IMHO this is not ethical. but i guess they can not sue other companies out side UK. :(

I can't imagine they could win a case like that

but JayC is right - they are only going after specific companies to claim some kind of settlement probably. Even if they won - it would impossible to collect some kind of payment for every link on the web.

Whats more scary is the EU looking at banning cookies - now that is nuts

This is an old thread, but I just wanted to mention that the US District Court has issued a summary judgement in favor of Prodigy, dismissing BT's suit.

You can read the whole decision here: http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/cyberlaw/btelprdgy82202dec.pdf

Yes, the internet is a very different beast than the "Hidden page" copyright they were asking for protection for.... geeze

This is mad.
BT does have some connection with AT and T don't they? if they do i was right with saying there trouble.
Bunch of excuse me arse bandits.