BT sues Prodigy over U.S. hyperlink patent
Patents
12/15/2000; 2:15:48 PM

'BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS (BT), which earlier in the year said it had discovered that it owns the U.S. patent for the invention of the hyperlink technology used on the Internet, has sued Prodigy Communications for copyright infringement....

'Early in the year, after discovering in a routine check that it owned the patent for the hyperlink, BT wrote to 17 U.S. ISPs, including Prodigy, asking them to pay for the privilege of using the technology through licensing agreements. The suit filed against Prodigy, which claims to be largest consumer DSL (digital subscriber line) ISP in the United States, is the first suit BT has filed to protect its hyperlink patent, according to Orr.'

Wow, so it's finally happened.  I half expected them to give up.  Note: I have no idea why BT filed a copyright infringement suit, as this article claims. I'll be looking for other updates and articles to see if this is a typo or if there's some wierd reason for a patent to be protected with a copyright infringement suit.