| Microsoft sues PND vendor over FAT filesystem |
Feb. 26, 2009
 Microsoft filed a patent infringement action against a vendor of Linux-based personal navigation devices (PNDs), and for the first time appears to target open-source Linux components. The company listed eight patent violations found in TomTom's Linux-based PNDs, three involving the device's use of the FAT filesystem.
(Click for larger view of the TomTom Go 940 Live)
FAT has become the lingua franca of essentially every type of removable storage device used by consumers, from floppy disks to USB drives to digital camera and music player memory cards. Without support for such devices, Linux could face dire challenges in the desktop and consumer electronics fields. Free software programs such as Samba, which allows Linux computers to interact with Windows networks, could also face problems.
Yet, as with the GIF patents that were rescinded a few years back, decades of non-enforcement could make it difficult for Microsoft to now demand royalties from users like TomTom. Microsoft earlier lost a similar case in Germany over its FAT patents.
Microsoft began offering FAT licenses in December of 2003, a subtle hint that it was considering a FAT patent enforcement plan. Shortly thereafter, PUBPAT took an interest in the case, attempting to invalidate the patents by demonstrating their alleged basis in prior art. PUBPAT, or the Public Patent Foundation, describes itself as a non-profit legal services organization that aims to represent the public's interests against "the harms caused by the patent system, particularly the harms caused by wrongly issued patents and unsound patent policy."
Lots more about the case can be found on our sister site, LinuxDevices, here.
-- Henry Kingman
Do you have comments on this story?
Talkback here
NOTE: Please post your comments regarding our articles using the above link. Be sure to use this article's title as the "Subject" in your posts. Before you create a new thread, please check to see if a discussion thread is already running on the article you plan to comment on. Thanks!
Related Stories:
(Click here for further information)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
