In a New York district court, BT sued Prodigy, the first
commercial ISP in the US. It alleges that Prodigy is infringing its
controversial patent. The patent was filed in the 1970s, long
before the World Wide Web existed. It is known as the “Hidden Page”
patent and is only valid in the US. It expires in October 2006.
However, if successful, BT could, in theory, demand licence fees
from almost every business in the US. Unsurprisingly, Prodigy
argues that BT’s patent should be declared invalid.
Judge McMahon yesterday gave a ruling, although it does not
address the validity or otherwise of the patent. However, The
Recorder observes that it may serve as the basis for Prodigy to
have BT’s lawsuit thrown out before going to a jury trial. The
ruling has yet to be released publicly.
A lawyer for Prodigy is quoted by The Recorder as saying that
the order gives a number of reasons as to why there should be no
infringement. Specifically, the patent refers to a "central"
computer connected to "remote terminals". The ruling of McMahon,
according to Prodigy’s lawyer, indicates that this possibly does
not cover the internet, because the internet has no single central
computer controlling hyperlinks.
