M$ to license FAT

[Peter L. Peres]

On Fri, 5 Dec 2003, cbbrowne-HInyCGIudOg at public.gmane.org wrote:

> > As the title says. Impact on Linux ?
>
> If the claims are true, that there are "live" patents still in place on
> FAT, then it is conceivable that there might be patent infringments, or
> at least places where MSFT could _claim_ that there are.
>
> Of course, FAT is pretty much derivative of CP/M filesystems, so it is
> more than likely that any conceivable patents would have to have been
> filed in the '80s, and thus would have, at most, 3 more years to run.

That sounds enough to me. On another list someone did check and the
current patents are on long filenames. If you want to read it, here:

http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/ip/tech/fat.asp

also on this page:

http://swpat.ffii.org/archive/quotes/index.en.html

there is a reference to the creator of virtualdub having a cold call from
borg to drop ASF support. And he did. DivX maker is scared. Take a minute
and read that page if you haven't already, at least the headlines.

The borg seems to be very active now. It seems to be related to that case
of scorn. Lacking a winning card, why not throw the whole pack randomly
and hope they drown ?

Peter
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