MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-04-16 |
| FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] Group challenges Microsoft's patent for FAT file system
|
Group challenges Microsoft's patent for FAT file system
The Public Patent Foundation claims that Microsoft's patent should never
have been issued since it duplicates earlier patents.
News Story by Todd R. Weiss
APRIL 16, 2004 (COMPUTERWORLD) - A tiny New York-based nonprofit patent
watchdog group is taking on Microsoft Corp. by claiming that a 7-year-old
patent Microsoft holds for the FAT file system is invalid and should be
revoked.
In a formal request sent yesterday to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
in Washington, Daniel Ravicher, executive director of the Public Patent
Foundation, asked the patent office to conduct a review because previous
patents had already been issued on the same technology.
Ravicher, a patent and trademark attorney who also specializes in
open-source legal issues, said he filed the complaint because Microsoft
began a campaign late last year to license some of its patents, including
the patent for the company's File Allocation Table (FAT) file system (see
story). Ravicher alleges that Microsoft wants to control the licensing of
the FAT system so it can discourage open-source and free software by not
allowing it to be interchangeable with Microsoft software.
The issue Ravicher presented to the Patent Office, however, simply argues
that U.S. Patent No. 5,579,517 should never have been issued to Microsoft in
November 1996 because "prior art," or evidence that someone else had
previously applied for and received a patent for the idea, exists. In his
letter to the patent office, Ravicher pointed out the missed prior art and
asked for a review of the case.
"There's presumed to be harm on everyone if a patent is issued where it
shouldn't be issued," Ravicher said. "The 517 patent is causing immeasurable
injury to the public by serving as a tool to enlarge Microsoft's monopoly
while also preventing competition."
Microsoft applied for the patent on April 1, 1993, according to patent
records. The FAT system was originally created in the mid-1970s, according
to Ravicher's letter.
Microsoft spokesman Mark Martin said the company hadn't yet received a copy
of the group's letter to the patent office. "We're unfamiliar with this
organization and unclear why they are so interested in this one patent," he
said in a statement. "Companies asked Microsoft to license our FAT
specification and patents to help improve interoperability, and we have
entered into a number of such licenses."
The FAT is an organizational system used to keep track of where data is
stored on a storage disk so the data can be found and used by the machine.
It is used in computers and other digital devices, including digital cameras
and detachable storage media.
The affected patent will continue to be held by Microsoft until 2013, when
it will expire under U.S. patent law.
In its letter, the foundation said that "Microsoft is using its control over
the interchange of digital media to aid its ongoing effort to deter
competition."
"We'd like to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt and believe that they
are not adopting a strategy of foreclosing competition through the use of
dubious patents," Ravicher said. "Unfortunately, their past anticompetitive
behavior combined with their recent launch of a comprehensive patent
assertion campaign causes us to have serious concerns about their
intentions."
"In the end, our beef is not with Microsoft per se," Ravicher said. "It's
with our broken patent system that is completely failing to ensure only
deserving patents get issued."
A spokesman for the patent office couldn't be reached before deadline.
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