Ruling on BT hyperlink patent expected soon. Fingers crossed [The Register]

This is one of the most onerous, most ridiculous of the software patent claims.  The men who built the core technology of the Internet and the World Wide Web gave it away.  TCP/IP, FTP, HTTP/HTML, SMTP/MIME, all given away for free.  They were men of science, and they realized the technology would make great things possible if and only if it weren't encumbered by patents and other intellectual property constraints. 

Then these BT idiots come along and claim they have a patent on hyperlinks?  And they wanna shake down ISPs because ISPs have the deepest pockets?  That is an insult to the people who built the Internet.  It is an insult to the way they donated their gifts and talent and genius, without which the Internet (and all the changes it engendered) would not have been possible. 

These idiots should be deeply, deeply ashamed of themselves.

2:27:04 PM