The news that Microsoft is starting to assert their FAT patent rights came as unwelcome news. I doubt that it will affect FreeDOS since it appears that some good guys are working to show prior art and get the patent(s) overturned. So it will hopefully amount to nothing ...
Title: Advocacy Group Goes After Microsoft's FAT patent Source: EWeek.com Date Written: April 16, 2004 Date Collected: April 19, 2004
The Public Patent Foundation has submitted a request to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to reexamine patent 5,579,517, awarded to Microsoft for its File Allocation Table (FAT) file system. The foundation alleges that FAT is invalid, citing three examples of prior art, and that the patent causes public injury by stifling competition. Microsoft has yet to review the request, but says it is unfamiliar with the Public Patent Foundation, questions their choice of patent to challenge, and notes that the company offers licenses for the FAT file system to anyone, including open source companies. Microsoft offers FAT licenses at 25 cents per device with a cap of $250,000. Public Patent Foundation founder and executive director Dan Ravicher says that charging for the license excludes free and open software groups from obtaining a license. The Public Patent Foundation's mission is to protect the public from wrongly issued patents and unsound patent policy.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1569534,00.asp
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