BTY says it has patent on hyperlink.
JohnG
6/21/00 - British Telecommunications seeks to collect on hyperlink patent
LONDON, Jun 21, 2000 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- British Telecommunications PLC is pursuing
Internet service providers in the United States to pay royalties on a vital piece of web technology, the
"hyperlink," which allows users to click from one page to another.
BT won't say how much money it thinks may be due from the thousands of Internet service providers in
the United States.
"It's the all-important question, but I'm afraid I cannot make any comment on this at all," Daniel Brod,
whose company is acting as BT's licensing agent, said Wednesday.
BT announced on Monday that it has hired QED, a subsidiary of the British intellectual licensing company
Scipher PLC, to pursue the ISPs for payment.
"At the moment, we have written to 17 of the major ISPs," said Daniel Brod, director of licensing for QED
Intellectual Property Ltd.
"We've offered all these companies a license entirely on an amicable basis, and we will be seeking a
reasonable royalty."
According to Boardwatch Magazine's Directory of Internet Service Providers, there are more than 5,000
ISPs operating in North America. Among those receiving letters, Brod said, was America Online Inc.,
which did not immediately returns calls seeking comment.
British Telecom is but one of many companies seeking to patent new technologies related to the Internet,
the actions of which have prompted calls for a revision in the way patents are rewarded in the United
States.
BT patented its system in a number of countries, and obtained patent number 4873662 in the United
States.
Those applications were made in the 1970s, and have lapsed everywhere except in the United States,
where the 20-year patent period begins only after the patent is registered.
The U.S. patent was registered in 1986 and expires in October 2006, which means BT will seeking
royalties for nearly six years of use. The claim starts from the time an ISP is notified that BT is seeking
royalties, Brod said.
BT's claim to the hyperlink stems from its development of viewdata systems such as the French Minitel
system, which were precursors of the Internet.
The company said the patent was discovered during a recent trawl through its portfolio of intellectual
property. Bord said his company, which has handled other licenses for BT, had been working on the
hyperlink issue for about a year.
"They're going right now after ISPs, because it would be very hard to go after individual users. They could
also try to go after large companies who have Web sites," Robert Sachs, partner in the intellectual
property group of the U.S. law firm of Fenwick and West in San Francisco, told AP Television News. |
