Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, the first web browser, and the fundamental protocols and algorithms
allowing the Web to scale......and he fought to make it free to all.
If he had patented his "link" idea, he could have become a multi-billionaire....even if we paid just one mill everytime we linked.
The idea of the hyperlink goes back a long way. Vannevar Bush alluded to it in his essay “As We May Think” in 1945. The word was coined by Ted Nelson who founded “Project Xanadu” in 1960, an early effort in this area. I knew some of the guys who were involved with that. Last I heard, they are still kind of working on it!!