if it passes you may be paying more for the internet.

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Holy SHIT!!!

Those unspeakable morons . . .

i doubt that they'll win, but imagine how rich they would become if they did. every isp in the world would have to pay them and i bet they could find a way for websites to pay them too. that's fucked up.

There is a possibility that it can happen though...

i wonder then, if there is an alternative way to do it that's just as effective as the way they've patented? i don't know much about this stuff, but is that poss?

well, not really because what they're claiming is that they came up with the technology for hyperlinks a long time ago, they just didn't call it hyperlinks. basically it's like they're claiming that they invented postal addresses and no matter whether you use fedex, ups, or the post office you would still be using the postal address to get your package there. that's kinda what they're saying about hyperlinks.

I claim the formula for water! Pay me if you want to drink this miracle fluid! Blah.

At least we`re not paying Gore for the net too.:p

Hey?! Does anyone remember that TRIUMPHANT Snickers commercial around election time? The guy went into the voting booth and then the elephant and the donkey appeared like his consciences. 'People say I look exactly like my dad! We even wear the same size pants!' 'I invented pants!' That had to have been the best commercial ever made . . .

They won't win it. First, PRODIGY (the defendant in the case) has evidence in the form of a video taken in 1968 (before the patent was issued) in which a scientist uses what we would now call a hyperlink. Second, they didn't invent the <A href="address"> tag nor HTML itself. So they're claiming their patent is valid for the link in the broadest of terms. In this respect, microsoft would also have to pay a fortune since their Microsoft Word program uses hyperlinks in the same manner. Basically this company claims it invented the method of "click then retrieve" which is total crap. It's like someone saying they invented the method of a button producing a reaction in real life, such as a light turning on or a soda being dispensed. It's rediculous, their patent will be made irrelevant. If the courts found the patent to be acceptable not only would PRODIGY be destroyed, but it would be the end of the computer boom all together. It would be the final blow to the American Economy.

The courts wouldn't find it valid even if it was valid, due merely to the overwhelming spillover effects from such a finding.

I think we might have to kill him


*takes out the K3G4 and a m-79*

Not the ISP's...
The users use them, and the webpage builders make use of them. They would pay... Not the companies routing network traffic (which is something quite different).

how do you charge a user directly without going through their service provider? chances are it would be charged to the isp's and they would pass it along to their customers.

That will fail for the same reason as that ISP's cannot be charged for their user's abuse of their network (child porn, hacking ect.).
The ISP as conduit for the data, is not responsible for the content of the data transferred.

That is why I think, only webdesigners could be charged. Charging users would be... Difficult, the least.

yeah, i guess you have a point. either way it would suck ass for who ever gets the short end of that stick.