Just as we were all focused on Microsoft's attempts
to steal the Internet, another company was sneaking
into court, asserting that it held a patent on hypertext,
one of the main technologies making it all possible.

U.S. federal Judge Colleen McMahon has dismissed a claim by British Telecom that it developed and holds a patent to the hyperlink technology used to whisk Web users from one site to another.

According to court transcripts, the British telephone company believed that every single hyperlink used on every U.S. website was utilizing intellectual property the company patented in 1976 and should therefore be subject to a licensing fee.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,54721,00.html

We are lucky that the judge realized how pathetic it was
and threw out the case.
I would have jailed them for contempt of court.