The file system that Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS before it has used (if only in part now) for years may well be the subject of coming legal dispute.
"In April, the Public Patent Foundation asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to revoke a patent that covers the FAT (File Allocation Table) file system--the older of two main systems used by Windows to store files."
Support for FAT and FAT32 has become so common on Linux, Apple Mac, and just about everything else under the sun that its a kind of a standard of sorts in terms of data storage on computer systems. Some people also worry that because the Linux kernel comes with read and write FAT support that its a copyright infringement, after a fashion. However, others feel that its Microsoft who are in the wrong to retain a patent over this file system technology:
"We are obviously very pleased with the Patent Office's decision to grant our request to re-examine Microsoft's FAT patent," group founder Dan Ravicher said in the statement. "This is the first step toward ending the harm being caused to the public by this patent that should have never been issued."
More here.