more on Fat file patent

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 16:50:24 +0100
From: Marcel Waldvogel <marcel () wanda ch>
Subject: Re: [IP] Fat file patent
To: dave () farber net, Bob Webster <bob () upperspace com>

Dave, Bob,

The patents listed on the MS site only seem to relate to the addition of 
"long file names" to the FAT "8.3" file naming scheme:

U.S. Patent #5,745,902 "Method and system for accessing a file using file 
names having different file name formats" (filed 1992)
U.S. Patent #5,579,517 "Common name space for long and short filenames" 
(filed 1995)
U.S. Patent #5,758,352 "Common name space for long and short filenames" 
(filed 1996)
U.S. Patent #6,286,013 "Method and system for providing a common name space 
for long and short file names in an operating system" (filed 1997)

Thus it does not seem to apply to the "basic" FAT/FAT32 technology of 
naming files ("8.3") and allocating/finding the disk blocks occupied by 
these files. Since the FAT file system has been in use since the early 80s, 
the existence of any patents preceding that date should be known by 
Microsoft or other entities.

Based on this information, the following two conclusions can be drawn:

- As the formatting/initialization of the disk/flash card/... does not 
determine whether long file names can be stored on it, the case for 
royalties for preformatted but otherwise blank media seems to be very weak, 
based on the evidence listed by Microsoft. Microsoft's FAT "Pricing and 
Licensing" section is ambiguous on that anyway.

- The licensing for electronic devices capable of reading FAT media is 
interesting. While the 25 cent may be acceptable to camera manufacturers, 
it is certainly deadly for free operating systems (*BSD, Linux, ...), as 
putting up any charging infrastructure will incur significant additional 
expenses. Given Microsoft's history and interest in fighting free operating 
systems, this may be deliberate. (Other companies with large patent 
portfolio often license based on a percentage of revenue, which would be 
better for free/open-source products. Also note that they do not state any 
prices for personal computer or airplane licenses, just consumer electronics.)

As the consumer electronics devices with storage I know (selected digital 
cameras and MP3 players) support only "8.3" naming, there may not be much 
income (now) from this part, nor from the storage media manufacturers. The 
only remaining goal seems to be to kill the efficiency with which 
open-source/free operating systems can be distributed.

-Marcel
http://marcel.wanda.ch
(this is not legal advice; other standard disclaimers apply)

Dave Farber schrieb:

> From: Bob Webster <bob () upperspace com>
>
> <snip>
>
> Patent
>
> Compact flash cards (and other flash cards) are really handy in cameras 
> and computers, because you can treat them like little hard drives. Or big 
> hard drives, if you consider half a billion a big number. You can plug in 
> a compact flash card and read or write just like a hard drive. This is 
> because it uses a standard format, the FAT or FAT32 format.
>
> FAT stands for (or stood for once) File Access Table. It's a standard 
> layout for a file directory and pointers to the files. Microsoft started 
> using the FAT format for hard and floppy drives with MSDOS. It's a pretty 
> simple format, with several similarities to CP/M and Unix formats.
>
> Now Microsoft has decided they own FAT. They are going to start charging 
> manufacturers about $0.25 for each compact flash card sold. Well, those 
> that use the FAT file format, which amounts to almost every card being 
> sold. Our PC12 uses a nonstandard compact flash card to record engine 
> data. I guess that saved us 25 cents in the purchase of the airplane.
>
>         http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/ip/tech/fat.asp




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