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Microsoft Gets Back Its FAT Patent In Germany
Dj writes to let us know that Microsoft has regained its FAT patent in Germany. (We discussed it three years ago when the German Federal Patent Tribunal ruled that Microsoft's patent on the FAT file system, with short and long names, was not enforceable.) "The [German] appeal court's decision brings it into line with the US patent office's assessment of the FAT patent. In early 2006, after lengthy deliberations, the latter confirmed the rights to protection conferred by [US] patent number 5,579,517, claiming that the development was new and inventive."
MS has patented Steve 'Sweaty' Ballmer??
I wonder if I can I patent turtle-necked geek with a messiah/god complex.
just saying.
Just too bad that software patents can not be inforced in germany. They only exist for a possible future change of german or european patent law. A change which is currently rather unlikely.
Isnt there a statue of limitations in germany? I mean, FAT is like 20 years old.
What am I missing?
It is "statue" of limitations.
I wonder how much that cost MS. Bribes aren't cheap.
There is a war going on for your mind.
This seems fucked up. The patent was invalidated, which allowed anyone to implement the technology from the patent. Now, they're saying that the patent is valid, which means that anyone who implemented technology from the patent has been retroactively made a criminal. They will have to pay royalties on anything they sold, and they will be unable to sell their product anymore, even if they spent millions on developing it (unless they get a license from Microsoft).
With Steve Baldmer at the head of Microsoft, that was kind of obvious.
Does this have any practical significance? Am I missing something? Is FAT still worth enough for them to bother fighting to have their patent in Germany?
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
Why would anyone want to be stuck with FAT? There are several great file systems in use these days.
Are there any high end digital cameras that have an option to use, for example ext2/ext3, because those file systems kick FAT ass in all benchmarks.
The patent is not for the FAT filesystem itself. The patent is for the kludge that allows FAT to support both long filenames and 8.3 filenames.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_filename
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Microsoft was basically granted a patent for throwing metadata in unused volume labels ? Why would anyone even WANT to violate the patent ? According to the Wikipedia entry on Long Filename, too many files with the same first six letters will cause issues. Man, that is one hell of a hack.
I wonder how much that cost MS. Bribes aren't cheap.
Loose talk about bribery is for losers.
Given the importance of complex legal codes, {German] judges must be particularly well trained. Indeed, judges are not chosen from the field of practicing lawyers. Rather, they follow a distinct career path. At the end of their legal education at university, all law students must pass a state examination before they can continue on to an apprenticeship that provides them with broad training in the legal profession over two years. They then must pass a second state examination that qualifies them to practice law. At that point, the individual can choose either to be a lawyer or to enter the judiciary. Judicial candidates start working at courts immediately, however they are subjected to a probationary period of up to five years before being appointed as judges for lifetime. Judiciary of Germany
`Similar 8.3 file naming schemes have also existed on earlier CP/M, Atari, and some Data General and Digital Equipment Corporation minicomputer operating systems'
Isn't that patent close to expiration now?
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
just saying.
From what I've heard, the problem with the iDiet is that it's a little too effective.
Latest Update: After another couple of years on the diet, Steve finally gets the well-defined cheekbones he was after.
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http://www.protocolsnow.com/2010/04/17/how-i-went-from-apple-store-newbie-to-lifetime-ban-in-one-week/
Hey man, its not fat, its just bloated.
Only in this world would a hack to fix a bad design be considered "new" and "inventive". Unbelievable.
The patent issue here is not how to store a long filename in a FAT directory. The patent covers the technique for making a file system where each file has two names, and 8.3 "short" name and a "long" name.
This was crucial back in the day. Your Windows 3.1 system could read the floppy disk written by your Windows 95 computer; that file you saved as "ode to a summer day.txt" would wind up as ODETOA~1.TXT in Windows 3.1, and you could access the file.
But these days, nobody really cares about the 8.3 "short" filenames. Windows XP, Windows 7, Mac OS, etc. all just look at the long filenames.
So, Andrew Tridgell made a change to the Linux VFAT driver, and now Linux writes a valid long filename, and puts horrible junk in the space for the 8.3 filename. The horrible junk includes illegal characters for a filename. Thus, Linux is not writing both a long and a short filename, and thus isn't infringing.
And Linux still has the FAT driver, in addition to the VFAT driver. The FAT driver reads and writes 8.3 filenames only. In the event that you have a volume with nothing but 8.3 filenames, you can still use it with Linux.
http://www.osnews.com/story/21766/Linux_Kernel_Patch_Works_Around_Microsoft_s_FAT_Patents
The FAT long filenames patent should expire sometime around 2015, at which time Linux will return to full compatibility. (I presume that in countries that don't enforce software patents, people are still using Linux with full compatibility.)
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Ballmer is thin by kraut standards.
Nope. Times have changed.
As an American who has spent about half of the last 20 years in Germany, I can tell you with great certainty that the average German is in much better trim and is a relative toothpick compared to the average American. It stuns me sometimes when I come home and see all the lardasses waddling thru shopping malls here.
America has the obesity epidemic, not Germany.
The court actually meant that Microsoft could patent fat, you know, the stuff that so many of you think fills the space between Mr. Ballmer's ears. Now that they have the patent, they can charge 89 euros per pound above a BMI of 18. In Germany, that adds up to about 200 billion euros. Now, why would Microsoft get a patent on fat? It is soft ware.
Yeahhhhh.... but that's not the patent.
Has anyone given thought as to how this might effect emulation projects such as WINE? Might be nice to find out....