Why is BT in hot water over hypertext links

Asks simonteller

A. BT are not exactly in hot water, but rather hot under the collar, over the whole subject of hypertext. It began a court battle in the US this week (on Monday, 11th February 2002) against a company called Prodigy to prove that it owns the patent to hypertext.

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Q. What exactly is hypertext

A. Hypertext is the technology that allows Internet users to move from one web page or website to another through a series of links. For example on the Answerbank site, text that is highlighted in orange on any category home page is a hypertext link to another page with related content.

In reality hypertext is a type of database for storing information, presented on a web page as a link - which can link the user to many different forms of information e.g. text, photos, graphics, computer programmes, music etc. - at the click of button (or a word, a photo, an icon etc.).

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Q. Is hypertext the same as hypermedia

A. Hypermedia is an extension of hypertext in that it supports the linking graphics, sound etc. as well as text - and allows them to coexist together.

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Q. How big is the company Prodigy that BT are suing, can they take on BT

A. Prodigy is one of the oldest online access providers in America with a customer base of 3.8 million. It is now owned by US telecoms giant, SBC Communications - a match for BT.

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Q. Why is this case generating so much media attention

A. It is causing such a furore as it is considered the most controversial case concerning the Internet and the rights of ownership ever to go to court so far, with BT receiving a lot of criticism because proprietorial claims over the basic concept and technology of the web are frowned upon.

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However, BT could win a lot of money on this case if it is successful and it would open the floodgates to thousands of other intellectual property rights claims concerning the Internet, and the basic technology that makes it work.

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Q. So did BT actually invent hypertext

A. Not exactly, but it realised it held the patent for hypertext in the US two years ago and has been fighting to prove it ever since. The patent was filed in 1976 in the US and finally granted in 1989. Through its lawsuit, BT is arguing that through its research into alternative television-bases services in the early 1970s the concept of hypertext was created and this work contributed to early work by Tim Berners-Lee in developing hypertext standards.

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Q. So did Tim Berners-Lee invent hypertext then

A. Berners-Lee is often credited as being the inventor of the Internet or World Wide Web; it is believed that he developed ideas on the concept of hypertext that had earlier been invented by the British scientist, Ted Nelson. It is Nelson who is considered the inventor of hyptertext, he coined the term "hypertext" way back in 1963 and demonstrated it at Stanford University in 1968 - much earlier than BT's research into alternative television-based services.

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Q. How did Ted Nelson develop hypertext so long before the Internet came into being

A. He first coined the phrase "hypertext" in connection with his Xanadu computer system, which anticipated the World Wide Web by offering an electronic information storage and access system - accessed via a series of hypertext links.

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But invention and the ownership of a patent are two entirely separate issues, and if BT can prove it owns the patent to hypertext and ultimately the basic development of the World Wide Web - the world could literally be its oyster.

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By Karen Anderson