“User interface pioneer Douglas Engelbart, who demonstrated a
mouse-driven hypertext system called NLS in 1968, said in an
interview Wednesday that he will help Prodigy defend itself against
a patent infringement lawsuit filed by British Telecom. BT is suing
Prodigy for infringement of BT’s patent on hyperlinks.”
“‘I can’t imagine it. We were using hyperlinks way back’,
Engelbart said. He said that he and his colleagues had hyperlinks
working in 1965 or 1966. He added that he would prefer not to
testify in the case, and would rather help Prodigy’s lawyers behind
the scenes. Last year, slashdot.org suggested videos of Engelbart’s
1968 hypertext demo ‘knock BT’s patent for hyperlinking out of the
water’.”