RE: [ros-general] Microsoft wants royalties for use of FAT

[Hey Matthew]

As far as i can tell, the patents don't stop the use of the FAT 
file system layout or structures, they only relate to the creation
of long file names. Therefore we can still use FAT and even 'read'
long file names, but just not generate them without infingement.

-----Original Message-----
From: Vizzini [mailto:[e-mail]]
Sent: Friday, 5 December 2003 11:54 a.m.
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: [ros-general] Microsoft wants royalties for use of FAT

On Thu, 2003-12-04 at 16:03, Casper Hornstrup wrote:
> http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/ip/tech/fat.asp

sigh...

Looks pretty bad, actually.  We're going to have to think about this. 
This patent really can't be licensed for use with a GPL'd operating
system unless the fundamental terms are changed.

CDs and DVDs would still be usable, and floppy disks might be if we
don't implement any patented things (FAT existed in 1985, and all those
patents are expired now).

Things could get really sticky with digital cameras, mp3 players, etc...

I'd be curious to see how RMS would respond to this.  Steven, would you
care to run this by him?

Also, I fear that this is just the tip of the iceberg.  MS also has a
royalty deal on the website for ClearType, and I guarantee they have
thousands of patents that cover all of the obvious things.  I guess
we'll just have to deal with them as they come up.

A quick US patent database search shows 2,884 patents assigned to MS
since 1976.  On further review, it appears that every single one has
issued since 1986, meaning that every one of them is valid and
enforcable.

Joy.

-Vizzini

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[Andrew "Silver Blade" Greenwood]

This gave me an interesting idea...

Maybe ReactOS could use ext2/ext3/ReiserFS or some other file system, and
provide a conversion utility and FAT/NTFS read-only capabilities? This would
certainly be bad for MS because not only will ReactOS then be open-source
NT, but will also favour Linux's file system over Microsoft's...

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hey Matthew" [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 11:13 PM
Subject: RE: [ros-general] Microsoft wants royalties for use of FAT
> As far as i can tell, the patents don't stop the use of the FAT
> file system layout or structures, they only relate to the creation
> of long file names. Therefore we can still use FAT and even 'read'
> long file names, but just not generate them without infingement.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vizzini [mailto:[e-mail]]
> Sent: Friday, 5 December 2003 11:54 a.m.
> To: [e-mail]
> Subject: Re: [ros-general] Microsoft wants royalties for use of FAT
>
> On Thu, 2003-12-04 at 16:03, Casper Hornstrup wrote:
> > http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/ip/tech/fat.asp
>
> sigh...
>
> Looks pretty bad, actually.  We're going to have to think about this.
> This patent really can't be licensed for use with a GPL'd operating
> system unless the fundamental terms are changed.
>
> CDs and DVDs would still be usable, and floppy disks might be if we
> don't implement any patented things (FAT existed in 1985, and all those
> patents are expired now).
>
> Things could get really sticky with digital cameras, mp3 players, etc...
>
> I'd be curious to see how RMS would respond to this.  Steven, would you
> care to run this by him?
>
> Also, I fear that this is just the tip of the iceberg.  MS also has a
> royalty deal on the website for ClearType, and I guarantee they have
> thousands of patents that cover all of the obvious things.  I guess
> we'll just have to deal with them as they come up.
>
> A quick US patent database search shows 2,884 patents assigned to MS
> since 1976.  On further review, it appears that every single one has
> issued since 1986, meaning that every one of them is valid and
> enforcable.
>
> Joy.
>
> -Vizzini
>
> ros-general mailing list
> [e-mail]
> http://reactos.com/mailman/listinfo/ros-general
>
> This communication is confidential and may contain privileged material.
> If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, copy or

retain it.
> If you have received it in error please immediately notify me by return

email
> and delete the emails.
> Thank you.
> _______________________________________________
> ros-general mailing list
> [e-mail]
> http://reactos.com/mailman/listinfo/ros-general