1. This has NOTHING to do with HTML-WG. Zippo.
2. Newspaper writers are almost always writers of fiction.
3. In this particular article, Yates just misused the word patent.
4. Please don't post this kind of sheer unconfirmed speculation.
So, to summarize:
The relationship between Spyglass and NCSA has nothing to do with patents.
Ronald Yates used the word patent when he meant "trademark", or perhaps
"copyright", and so on.
I won't speak for NCSA, but to my knowledge, they are not attempting to
patent any aspect of Mosaic.
-- Eric W. Sink Spyglass, Inc. eric@spyglass.com