By Anne Broache, 11 January 2006 13:45
NEWS
Two patents covering one of Microsoft's main Windows file-storage systems are valid after all, federal patent examiners have decided.
The decision, announced on Tuesday by the software giant, effectively ends a two-year saga over the patents and reverses two non-final rulings - the latest issued in October - in which the US Patent and Trademark Office rejected Microsoft's claims.
In their latest action, filed last week, the examiners concluded the company's File Allocation Table (FAT) file system is, in fact, "novel and non-obvious", entitling it to patentability. Now the office is in the process of issuing a "patent re-examination certificate", which signals the finality of the decision, a Microsoft representative said.
The Patent Office agreed to re-examine two patents covering the FAT system, a common means of storing files which is also used by some Linux- and Unix-related products to exchange data with Windows, at the request of a little-known public interest group called the Public Patent Foundation in April 2004.
That organisation claimed there was "prior art" that proved Microsoft was not the first company to come up with the file format.
It also voiced concern Microsoft would try to seek royalties from companies that sell and support Linux for using the technology, potentially posing a threat to the free software community. Under the terms of the Free Software Foundation's General Public License, Linux cannot be distributed if it contains patented technology that requires royalty payments.
Microsoft indicated in the past it would license the file format. In December 2003, it said it had struck such a deal with flash-memory vendor Lexar Media.
The Patent Office's final decision followed several non-binding decisions that were unfavourable to Microsoft. After issuing its preliminary rejection of the patents in September 2004, examiners handed down a similar decision about a year later.
David Kaefer, Microsoft's company's director of business development, said on Tuesday the company was "very pleased" with the office's final decision. Kaefer added: "This result underscores the validity of these patents but also the importance of allowing third parties to request re-examinations."
CNET News.com's Ina Fried contributed to this report
Anne Broache writes for CNET News.com
Comments
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1. Charles Smith
Does "Prior Art" mean nothing to the US Patent Office? I seem to remember using other operating systems such as DRDOS that also used FAT.
Probably evidence of the need to scrap the US Patents office and replace it with something better. Currently it is just a Milch Cow for the Lawyers.
2. Matthew Nawrocki
This is ridiculous in every way. Firstly, there is little to prove that Microsoft "INVENTED" the file-system. Secondly, many other platforms and OSes use it for use as a basic file-system and it is almost impossible for everybody to round up "the suspects" and get an agreement on new usage terms. Lastly, as Microsoft intended, the Open-Source community will find itself in a rut that would be difficult to dig out of. I mean that Linux and other GNU OSes will not have a sort of "standard" file-system to use at its disposal, even though each have their own distinctive file-systems (except UNIX and Linux based OSes which use EXT2 or EXT3 as a standard).
3. Ronald J Riley
Microsoft, a card carrying member of the trade association calling itself the Coalition for Patent Fairness. This group is better known as the Piracy Coalition because they do not respect patent rights of others when they think that they can bully those inventors into allowing their patent rights to be taken.
Microsoft and like minded companies have been doing their best to turn the patent system into a kings sport.
This reexamination is a perfect example of how a big company like Microsoft can defend their rights. Unfortunately the same is not true for individual and academic inventors. Small entity inventors account for more then thirty percent of domestically filed patents. And their patents tend to be much more significant than those of big companies.
Ronald J. Riley,
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