Microsoft FAT patents

Microsoft has a number of patents on how to deal with filename in their commonly used FAT filesystem.

These include:

• US5,579,517 "The '517 patent"
• US5,758,352

Timeline

• December 2003: MS starts threatening people[1]
• September 2004: The '517 patent is rejected[2] thanks to the work of PubPat[3] and others.
• January 2006: The '517 patent is reinstated[4]
• January 2009: Microsoft uses it's FAT patents against TomTom

See also

• Microsoft
• Microsoft vs. TomTom - where MS forced TomTom to pay for patents, seemingly including their FAT patents

External links

• PubPat: Microsoft FAT Patent (page out of date)
• Groklaw report on A patch to remove VFAT filename conversion from the Linux kernel,
  • the LKML thread
  • A related FAQ produced by Andrew Tridgell and Linux Foundation
• Microsoft's IP chief on TomTom, Linux and patents, techflash, Feb 2009