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Date:      Wed, 21 Jun 2000 04:26:23 -0700
From:      Josef Grosch <jgrosch@mooseriver.com>
To:        Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in>
Cc:        freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: BT patents hyperlinks...
Message-ID:  <20000621042623.A78879@mooseriver.com>
In-Reply-To: <20000621153448.D21029@physics.iisc.ernet.in>; from rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in on Wed, Jun 21, 2000 at 03:34:48PM %2B0530
References:  <20000621153448.D21029@physics.iisc.ernet.in>

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On Wed, Jun 21, 2000 at 03:34:48PM +0530, Rahul Siddharthan wrote:
> 
> 
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_798000/798475.stm
> 
> They're planning a licensing program for ISP's to use hyperlinks.

This issue was thrashed to death a few days ago on Slashdot. The general
consensus is that BT does not have a leg to stand on. There are clear
examples of previous art which make British Telecoms patent void plus there
has been no "vigorous defense" of the patent since the 1989 when the patent
was granted.

Ted Nelson of the Xanadu project published a paper in the proceedings of
the ACM in 1965 which uses the terms "Hypertext" and "Hyperlink" and
describes how it works. Nelson gives Vannevar Bush credit for the original
concept. Bush published a article in the late 1930's called "As We May
Think" which describes the basic concepts.

Hopefully the ISPs that receive BTs "invitation" to license the technology
will have the balls to tell BT to fuck off.

Another example of what a pathetic joke the US patent office has become. 


Josef

-- 
Josef Grosch           | Another day closer to a |    FreeBSD 4.0
jgrosch@MooseRiver.com |   Micro$oft free world  | UNIX for the masses



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