They’ve GOT to be kidding… they’re filing a lawsuit against ISPs for royalties for the use of hyperlinks. This has to be the silliest thing since the baby jesus butt plug.
Did you intend to place this in GD?
Are you serious? This looks like a humor website.
Now seriously, does that look like a genuine news item?
~~Baloo
BTW, what does “punter” mean?
Apparently it’s real after all:
BT considers legal action over hyperlink patent
[sup]By WORLDLawDirect [October 12th, 2000][/sup]
Who knew?
Certainly not I.
~~Baloo
Yes, BT is serious, they think they have legal claim to the concept of a hyperlink. Fortunately, the US doesn’t grant patents on software, and you can see the obvious reason why they are a stupid idea generally.
Anyway, the patent will get struck down the first time BT tries to sue someone for royalties. All you need to do to invalidate a patent is show “prior art” meaning that someone invented it before you did and your patent is invalid.
FYI, the first public demonstration of a hyperlink (along with the first demonstration of the Mouse) was in 1968 by Douglas Engelbart at Stanford. You can view his entire 90 minute lecture (cut up into small quicktime movies) at:
It’s an English slang term that basically mean customer.