Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Tue 10th Jan 2006 23:44 UTC, submitted by Derek Newhall
After 2 years of examination the U.S Patent and Trademark Office has reversed its two earlier unofficial decisions and decided that Microsoft's File Allocation Table file system constitutes a "novel and non-obvious" system enabling it to be patented. This coupled with Microsofts plans to charge licensing fees for use of the system could cause many problems for open-source operating systems that implement the file system, or even to mp3 players. Elsewhere, APCMag.com has an interview with Microsoft's "open source point man" Martin Gregory.
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Member since:
2005-08-22
>Microsoft has always been pretty good about not suing over patents, AFAIK. We'll see what they do with this..
True, but Microsoft usually rules by fear of force rather than force itself. They sling the FUD of patents all the time.