On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 10:31:39 +0100 nitro2k01 nitro2k01@gmail.com wrote:
I'm not talking about invalidating the patent as of today, to favor eg ROS, but I'm rather asking how they got could file the patent? Didn't IBM react? And moreover, was it legal for them at that point of time to file a patent regarding something that already existed. (Namely a file system capable of storing a long and a short file name for the same file)
/nitro2k01On 3/12/06, Oliver Schneider Borbarad@gmxpro.net wrote:
Reminds me... didn't OS/2 have the capability to store both short and long file names on a FAT16 partiton? How does that go with MS' patents? Where MS really allowed to file a patent on something that already existed?
I think the actual question is how you want to invalidate the patent. As far as I remember it costs even money if you want to attack a patent that you think is prior-art. How does that go with the work of volunteers...? I am involved in other FOSS projects and I would not want to sue someone else on behalf of a project or to be sued instead of the project. At last it is a volunteer's work ...
Just my 2 cents,
Oliver
It seems that the consensus was that a vfat mode that stores only long filenames would sidestep the patent.