From http://www.NewsFactor.com

"A British telecommunications company has suffered a setback in its controversial attempt to claim a patent on the ubiquitous Internet technology known as hyperlinking."

"British Telecom (BT), the former UK telecom monopoly, is suing Prodigy Communications, claiming that the U.S. ISP's use of hypertext technology -- which lets Web surfers connect to Web pages via colored "links" -- infringes on a patent BT filed in the 1970s. If successful, BT could demand that all U.S. ISPs begin paying a fee to license the technology."

The complete article is available here.