Fat Chance For FAT Patent

Legal Issues

from the so-much-for-that-plan dept

These days, when it seems like the patent office will approve just about any ridiculous patent, it’s almost surprising to hear that they’ve tuned one down. However, it appears that Microsoft has had their patent application on the FAT file system rejected, meaning that many storage device makers can go about their merry ways without having to pay a Microsoft tax to make their devices work with Windows machines. Of course, as the article notes, Microsoft was so sure of the patentability of this, that they had already started hitting up manufacturers, some of whom may have already paid the licensing fees.