Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Fri 13th Jan 2006 00:53 UTC
On Tuesday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reaffirmed Microsoft's FAT patents (covering the File Allocation Table), but sources close to the Public Patent Foundation indicate that this is not the end of the story of efforts to overthrow these patents. According to sources cited by Linux-Watch.com, the re-issuance of the patent was based on the examiner's having accepted an argument previously advanced by Microsoft, and previously rejected.
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RE[2]: C'mon, know when you're beaten...
by Jeeeb on Fri 13th Jan 2006 23:34
in reply to "RE: C'mon, know when you're beaten..."
Member since:2005-11-12
Member since:
2005-12-31
>>But there was no prior art<<
There wasn't?
"Microsoft's FAT patent (5,579, 517) is invalid because of three prior art patents, filed by IBM and Xerox in 1988, 1989 and 1990. Microsoft was not granted '517 until 1996."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/15/fat_patent_review/