[http://www.osnews.com/story/21766/Linux_Kernel_Patch_Works_Around_Microsoft_s_FAT_Patents]
[http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/6/26/313]
[http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/6/26/314]

=====
Linux Kernel Patch Works Around Microsoft's FAT Patents
posted by Thom Holwerda on Thu 2nd Jul 2009 16:17 UTC, submitted by lemur2

[...]

The new patch offers support for long file names without infringing
any of Microsoft's patents. This isn't just an empty claim; several
patent lawyers with expertise in this area have investigated the patch
and concluded that it does not infringe the patents.

In a Q&A about the patch, more details were revealed about how it
avoids the patents:

The claims of both of the VFAT patents involve the creation (or
storing) of both a long filename and a short filename for a file. The
2nd patch only creates/stores either a short filename or a long
filename for a file, but never both. The 11 bytes created by
vfat_build_dummy_83_buffer() to pad the field for short filenames
cannot be used to access the file, and contain bytes which are invalid
in FAT and VFAT filenames, and therefore are not filenames as that
term is and has been used in the technical community.

[...]
=====
-- 
Soh Kam Yung
my Google Reader Shared links:
(http://www.google.com/reader/shared/16851815156817689753)
my Google Reader Shared SFAS links:
(http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/16851815156817689753/label/sfas)

_______________________________________________
Slugnet mailing list
[email protected]
http://wiki.lugs.org.sg/LugsMailingListFaq
http://www.lugs.org.sg/mailman/listinfo/slugnet

Reply via email to