[ros-dev] MS's patent claims for FAT

[Wierd_w]

I have found the full texts for the patents for FAT.
The links are very long, so I expect them to get
clipped. Regardless, here it goes anyway.


http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=5,579,517.WKU.&OS=PN/5,579,517&RS=PN/5,579,517

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=5,758,352.WKU.&OS=PN/5,758,352&RS=PN/5,758,352

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,286,013.WKU.&OS=PN/6,286,013&RS=PN/6,286,013


Those are all three patents listed by the MS FAT
patent notification page at MS.  I note how their
claims arent specific about what kind of 'memory
storage' the FAT structure is located in--- MS is
being really paranoid about it.

Still, IANAL, but I would say this is grounds for an
equitable estoppel. MS has allowed royalty free use of
FAT for how many years now? How many industries rely
on FAT support, as a De-Facto standard for floppies
and flash media? Sounds like a textbook case for
Equitable Estoppel.

http://www.nolo.com/definition.cfm/Term/7F1E56D5-7EC1-4CEB-86B3943F6990FF77/alpha/E/

(First item)

I would bring this to the FSF's attention.

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