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OIN Posts Details of Microsoft's Anti-Tom Tom Patents

Posted by kdawson on from the does-this-filesystem-make-me-look-fat dept.

number6x writes "LinuxDevices.com is reporting that the Open Invention Network has posted the details of three of the eight patents used by Microsoft in the Tom Tom suit (which Tom Tom settled last month), asking the community for prior art. These patents cover aspects of the FAT file system. You can find them on Post-Issue.org — see numbers 5579517, 5758352, and 6256642. OIN CEO Keith Bergelt believes that these three patents are of tenuous validity and will probably not survive a review. Bergelt believes that there's a good chance that the USPTO may well invalidate them before the end of the year.

1 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Indicative of the brokenness of the system by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Tom Tom did indeed blink first - they had been discussing licensing with Microsoft of several Tom Tom patents which they felt Microsoft had been infringing upon, and had threatened MS with litigation. When the licensing deal fell through, Microsoft simply pulled the gun first.

    So why is no one trying very hard to invalidate Tom Toms patents in this case? From the sound of it they seem rather trivial -

    Generating a maneuver at the intersection through a turn lane
    Quick selection of destinations in an automobile navigation system

    There is a third one which is not currently within the USPTO search engine.

    Or is this just the usual 'hey its Microsoft, lets see if we can kick them' ferver?

    And besides, three out of eight patents does not mean the case against Tom Tom goes away...