FAT filesystem license needed from Microsoft?

[Per Dalgas Jakobsen]

> I just came around the following page from Microsoft (due to a
> message on a german newsticker):
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/ip/tech/fat.asp
>
> Does this mean, that we would have to pay royalties to
> Microsoft whenever we use a FAT disc? Or is it only for
> removable FAT disks?

I payed the United States Patent and Trademark Office webpage a short visit:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/srchnum.htm
The 4 explicit patents mentioned in the MS-link, refer to:
U.S. Patent #5,579,517 "Common name space for long and short filenames".
U.S. Patent #5,745,902 "Method and system for accessing a file using file
names having different file name formats".
U.S. Patent #5,758,352 "Common name space for long and short filenames".
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".

As I read it, this is only covering having both a short and a long filename
pointing to the same file.
If they will hit a broader market, they would certainly have refered to a
relevant patent, IMHO.
I made a search-all on RTEMS mailing lists, and didn't find a single
reference to this functionality, so I guess RTEMS is out of harms way :-)

I am no lawyer, but I wouldn't be too concerned about that IP claim.


> Or should I stop asking stupid (dangerous) questions?

Yes, that was a dangerous question ;-)

Best regards
Per