British Telecom claims it invented the hyperlink

The UK's monopolistic telecoms operator, British Telecom, not content with holding back the progress of online gaming and e-commerce in the UK with its over-priced and late arriving support for broadband digital connections, is now trying to stamp its unwelcome authority on the entire world wide web!

According to a story over on The Register, BT has a patent filed in 1976 which, it claims, covers the use of hyperlinks. They are now trying to license the use of hyperlinks to ISPs, starting in America, although they claim that they are only going to pursue ISPs rather than individual users and websites. Still, if they succeed this could raise the cost of internet access for the average user. It's a strange world...