In case you didn't see the story on News of the World, British Telecom has decided that it has a patent on the hyperlink. The hyperlink! You can read about it on LinuxMall, or you can read a different article about it on The Register.

They have apparently had this patent since the late eighties, but have only now realized that it covers hyperlinks as well! Are they stupid, or what? Or perhaps their patent doesn't really apply to hyperlinks and their just making it all up? It doesn't matter anyway, because their suing all of the ISPs in America. (I guess that includes Locl.Net, doesn't it? And UU-Net? And MCI?) It seems to fit in with all the other asshole things that they do, like screwing their customers. Can you believe that they told their government (the UK) that it was impossible to provide flat-rate local telephone service? Lying bastards! They can all rot in the bit bucket!!!

Editor's note, from February 21, 2005: Actually, you can't read about it on LinuxMall anymore, as they've been taken over by CheapBytes and all the articles are gone. The other aricle is still up, though.