Andrew Sackville-West wrote:
On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 10:29:10 -0600 John Hasler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:hendrik writes:Apparently there is now a patent on the FAT file system within the US, anyway. Do we have to rip it out of the kernel?No (that patent is not new).They can pry my FAT from my cold dead... ohhh, sorry, this isn't slashdot. ;)Do we have to stop distributing the kernel until we've done so?No. The kernel probably infringes dozens, perhaps hundreds of patents. Debian's policy is to ignore patents in the absence of evidence that the owner is likely to enforce them on us.Unfortunately, my understanding is that M$ intends to enforce this patent. and its not clear to me whether the patent applies to drivers or to the act of writing a FAT system. If it applies to drivers, I think that linux FAT system is a clean-room creation and would probably be okay. If it applies to the act of writing a FAT system (talking outmy FAT *ss here) then nobody can write FAT with out paying their $0.25
Which Patent? What is the date? We've been using FAT since
at least 1984 or so. Any patent on FAT per se would have
expired. Perhaps FAT32 only?
Mike
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