BT defeated in hyperlink case - judge's comments

The hyperlink patent - properly known as the Sargent patent - describes a system in which multiple users, located at remote terminals, can access data stored at a central computer. BT had argued that the internet infringes the Sargent patent and that Prodigy facilitates infringement by its subscribers by providing them with access to the internet.

But Judge McMahon found three problems with BT's arguments. First, she said, the internet has no "central computer" as described in the Sargent patent. Therefore, she said, because the internet itself does not infringe the Sargent patent, "Prodigy cannot be liable for contributory infringement or active inducement for providing its users with access to the internet."

And third, said the judge, BT's argument that Prodigy's web servers directly infringe the Sargent patent also fails, "because web pages stored on Prodigy's web servers do not contain 'blocks of information' or 'complete addresses' as claimed in the Sargent patent".

"In contrast to what BT would have us believe," said Judge McMahon, "there are no disputed issues of material fact in this case. Instead, the two sides reach vastly different conclusions based on the same set of facts. I find that, as a matter of law, no jury could find that Prodigy infringes the Sargent patent... either as part of the internet or on its web server viewed separate from the internet. Prodigy's motion for summary judgement is therefore granted."

The Sargent patent, number 4,873,662, was issued to BT in the US in 1989 and expires in 2006. The company said it only discovered the patent in a routine trawl through its own patents four years ago.

Some patent experts arguing against BT's case point to a video of a demonstration delivered by Douglas C Engelbart, who had been working with a group of 17 researchers in the Augmentation Research Center at Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, California.

In a live demonstration of the online system called NLS, which the researchers had been working on since 1962, Englebart demonstrated the ability of NLS to jump between levels in the architecture of a text, making cross references, creating internal linking and live hyperlinks within a file.

Matt Loney writes for ZDNet.co.uk.

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