The news of British telecom pursuing its Patent on Hyper
Links in the courts of USA has raised many an eyebrows all round the world.
After Amazon Patent and Napster Copyright Cases this has stirred the hornet's
nest.
To put the record straight, if the right of British Telecom
(BT) is upheld, no person can use a "Hyper Link" without a license from BT. If
such license has not been obtained, the user is liable to pay compensation to
BT.
The Patent is said to have been obtained in 1989 and was
discovered by an employee of the Company recently. BT has now filed a case
against Prodigy in USA in this connection. BT has given and indication that it
may not pursue infringement cases against individuals but may selectively
target some large Companies.
The Patent is being challenged on the ground that the
grant of Patent was irregular since there was a "Prior Art". Documentary
evidence of a video showing
Douglas C. Engel Bart
of Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, CA discussing and
showing the working of "Hyper linking" had in a demonstration of the "Mouse"
in a conference in 1962 has been found in a museum.
More importantly, "Hyper Linking" is a fundamental
building block of the Internet and it is against the interest of the community
to place it under a Patent. If licensing is left to the discretion of the
Patent holder on a case to case basis, it is likely to severely restrict the
development of technology. In other words it is a fit case for "Compulsory
Licensing" in all countries.
This is likely to turn out to be a land mark case
determining the principle of patentability of fundamental innovations. The
Netizens in India can however take some steps to safeguard their
interests instead of watching the developments passively. Firstly they should
express their opposition to the grant of the Patent and if granted should move
the Controller of Patents in India for a compulsory free licensing.
What can also be explored is whether "Pending grant of the
Patent, the Controller can issue a provisional order on compulsory licensing
on a contingent basis to avoid confusion in the minds of the public and
stagnation in scientific development during the course of litigation in USA.
Views of the readers are welcome.
Naavi
February 12, 2002
Related Article
in ZDNet
Information on Engle Bart Video
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