OIN Posts Details of Microsoft's Anti-Tom Tom Patents 65
number6x writes "LinuxDevices.com is reporting that the Open Invention Network has posted the details of three of the eight patents used by Microsoft in the Tom Tom suit (which Tom Tom settled last month), asking the community for prior art. These patents cover aspects of the FAT file system. You can find them on Post-Issue.org — see numbers 5579517, 5758352, and 6256642. OIN CEO Keith Bergelt believes that these three patents are of tenuous validity and will probably not survive a review. Bergelt believes that there's a good chance that the USPTO may well invalidate them before the end of the year.
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Indicative of the brokenness of the system (Score:5, Insightful)
If a few lay-men webanaughts can find prior art in patents that were enough to force a company to settle out of court (for fear of legislation), then clearly the system is so completely broken that I fear it cannot be repaired.
Here is my question: Why should I spend the money that I get from my 9-5 job to start up a new company if a few lazy lawyers can bring me to court and sue me without having any real legal ground? I might as well not bring innovation to the stage and save myself the hassle.
Re:Indicative of the brokenness of the system (Score:5, Funny)
Clearly, you should quit your 9-5 job and become a lawyer.
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or an actor [alobbs.com]
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Well, one person saying that there's a good chance that the USPTO may invalidate a patent (or three) is not the same as actually getting the USPTO to invalidate said patent(s). It might happen, or the patents may prove to be claimed too narrowly to be invalidated easily. How broad doe
Re:Indicative of the brokenness of the system (Score:5, Informative)
It doesn't matter. The reviews for prior art and the determination of patent infringement are separate. What seems to happen is that the patent is read narrowly when looking for a conflict with prior art, and broadly when looking for infringement. So the patent office and courts can simultaneously hold that a piece of prior art does not invalidate the patent, and that a particular device that uses something substantially similar to that same prior art is infringing.
Chilling effect (Score:4, Insightful)
That is exactly what the darkside hopes.
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... then clearly the system is so completely broken that I fear it cannot be repaired
It's not broken at all. The system clearly fosters innovation.
.... Legal Innovation.
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If a few lay-men webanaughts can find prior art in patents that were enough to force a company to settle out of court (for fear of legislation)
It was Tom-Tom that blinked first.
"Fear of legislation?"
What legislation?
This bill has a long way to go: H.R. 1260: Patent Reform Act of 2009 [govtrack.us]
The reality is that almost all cases are settled out of court - and while no formal precedents are set - pre-trial settlements do affect how you view your own prospects for success.
Even with the "webanaught" at your back.
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So why is no one trying very hard to invalidate Tom Toms patents in this case? From the sound of it they seem rather trivial -
Generating a maneuver at the intersection through a turn lane [uspto.gov]
Quick selection of destinations in an [uspto.gov]
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If a few lay-men webanaughts can find prior art in patents that were enough to force a company to settle out of court
I think that should read "a few lay-men webanaughts claimed to find prior art in patents that were enough to force a company to settle out of court"
Get real here, 90% of "lay-men webanaughts" hate Microsoft. Claims of prior art will get modded up regardless of legal merit.
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"prior art in patents that were enough to force a company to settle out of court (for fear of legislation)"
I think you mean litigation.
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Yeah well, until software patents are abolished, you're in for the same shit. Both the US democratic and republican parties, as well as most political parties world wide are *owned* by big business. These bastards aren't in the best interest of the public, they're in the best interest of filling their own pockets with bribes and kickbacks from big, self interested businesses. Just because we don't see it, doesn't mean it isn't happening. Oh, and Obama isn't any better, he's just as bad as the rest of th
Who can compete? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Many a plaintiff's lawyer has made a gazillion mozillion dollars litigating "against a company with that many lawyers and the ability to litigate you to oblivion."
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Why didnt TomTom look for this stuff? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm curious why TomTom wouldn't have done this work themselves to invalidate Microsoft's claims and avoid any sort of settlement? Couldn't they have stalled this until a determination was made that either the patent was invalid, or that their methods were based on the prior art - just like Microsoft's?
I'm hoping that TomTom just didnt do their homework and someone manages to come up with the info that they did not.
Makes me wonder how much luck this initiative will have - though I am hoping lots.
On another note, I wonder if an effort to invalidate the patents on the basis of "gee, that's obvious" is taking place as well...
Re:Why didnt TomTom look for this stuff? (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps because Tom Tom's business model involves building and selling GPS devices, and not fighting patent battles?
It becomes really easy to decide to settle such a lawsuit to keep management focused on "job 1", rather than focusing on saving a few pennies per unit by fighting a lawsuit for several years with a very well funded adversary.
The difference between a successful business and an unsuccessful business often comes down to the CEO's ability to make such a business decision without letting the "fairness" of the issue cloud the "business" of the issue. Get too involved in "I'm not going to let them bleed me for what may be an obvious patent with what could be some obliquely-related prior art", and you're not focusing on your core business.
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Very good point... though I guess that would depend on what concessions they had to make in the settlement. Wonder if we will ever know. And of course, there is the possibility that they are fighting the patent separately in the hopes of invalidating any concessions they were forced to make.
Re:Why didnt TomTom look for this stuff? (Score:5, Interesting)
Because it invites other to sue you too. IBM could have easily bought SCOX to make their little... 'problem' go away, but it did not. Instead it spent millions to BURY SCOX to let all other know that it will not be intimidated into buying out a plaintiff.
Re:Why didnt TomTom look for this stuff? (Score:5, Informative)
I suspect that IBM's motivation was much more related to ensuring that their customers didn't get cold feet about linux than it was to avoid other people trying to sue them. SCO was threatening all linux users- and since IBM makes money off linux at this point, they, that meant SCO was threatening their entire customer base. That made it a very good idea for IBM to trounce SCO in court, proving that their customers were safe (and therefore should keep buying IBM products/services).
The GP is talking about a very different view. MS was never going to sue TomTom's users; they just wanted money from TomTom. It's not at all unlikely that the settlement cost less money than litigation would, and certainly is less distracting, so the GP's point is quite valid.
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Well, not every tech company keeps a small fleet of Nazgul in their legal department.
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Fixed it for you
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Because it invites other to sue you too. IBM could have easily bought SCOX to make their little... 'problem' go away, but it did not. Instead it spent millions to BURY SCOX to let all other know that it will not be intimidated into buying out a plaintiff.
IBM didn't make the first move to sue, SCO did. In many ways I feel IBMs lawyers felt fighting SCO was better than letting the arrogant little bastards get their way. SCO's case was so full of holes that everyone wanted them to suffer. SCO was also going af
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Except that's not really how it happened.
It was Novell who buried SCOX (you know, since SCOX's whole case was based around the idea that they owned the rights to UNIX, when said rights, in fact, belong to Novell).
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That was a different playing field. IBM had the money for the lawyers, where they knew they could run SCO into the ground.
Tom-tom, when faces against Microsoft, knew the couldn't afford it, were offered a decent option, and took it.
It may not be a decent option in the grand scheme of things, but it was something they could afford.
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While your post is true - and a method I am sure any legitimate company would want to go, the big difference is IBM can afford to spend millions on a lawsuit (and not bat an eye).
There lies a problem in our legal system. Often in cases like these, the company (or individual) with the least money (to spend on represenation) loses or gets forced to settle under unfavorable terms.
Microsoft has sued (in combination with other related activities) other companies out of existence in the past (Stac Electronics f
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Perhaps because Tom Tom's business model involves building and selling GPS devices, and not fighting patent battles?
Makes me glad I chose the buisness model I did: Making and selling GPS devices, and also running a secret assasin organization which kills patent trolls that get in my way. With poison darts.
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Makes me glad I chose the buisness model I did: Making and selling GPS devices, and also running a secret assasin organization which kills patent trolls that get in my way. With poison darts.
Oh dude. I sooo patented that business method. Just you wait til -- hey, what's that noi
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"Read this word out loud: Candlejack.".
As soon as they do, they're going t
Re:Why didnt TomTom look for this stuff? (Score:5, Insightful)
I suppose TomTom's suits against Garmin and Toyota were filed because it gets too cold in the Netherlands and they wanted to spend some time in the Eastern District of Texas (their venue of choice when they sue others)?
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"I'm curious why TomTom wouldn't have done this work themselves to invalidate Microsoft's claims and avoid any sort of settlement?"
Probably because being wrong while speculating on Slashdot has no risk, but being wrong when your business is on the line does.
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Better yet why does anyone make or sell anything in the US anymore, with all the bullshit legal restrictions they face. Why not move the company to China where there are essentially no IP laws?
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Perhaps because they might want to sell these items in the US, EU, or other jurisdictions where the patent laws do apply?
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I have a pal who makes CF adapters for MSX computers, I would assume these infringe on "prior art" for FAT.
I doubt it, seeing as IIRC MS wrote the software for MSXs, so presumably they are licensed for it.
Irony? (Score:3, Funny)
It would be delightfully ironic if Microsoft's use of these patents to troll Tom Tom results in those same patents being invalidated.
Re:Irony? (Score:4, Interesting)
Actual Patent Info (Score:2)
Why the hell weren't they using ext2/3 or anything else? I'm guessing compatibility for the flash card readers for music loaded up by a windows PC or something?
Long AND short file names - This is the ~1 ~2 etc crap you get for file names from the 8.3 format. Probably not the exact same thing but wouldn't Unix symbolic links count? They're old as dirt.
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT5579517 [google.com]
Ditto
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT5758352 [google.com]
Flash memory. Remove the word flash and it looks a lot like a
Re:Actual Patent Info (Score:5, Informative)
Money back (Score:2)
Does TomTom get its money back when the patents are invalidated?
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Does TomTom get its money back when the patents are invalidated?
Since it was settled out of court, no. Not unless they manage to sue MS for bringing suit without merit or something.
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prior art (Score:2, Insightful)
The CP/M file system. The original FAT12 file system was directly based on it and is nearly identical.
Nope. (Score:2)
You should look up more information on prior art [wikipedia.org].
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Not the first challenge (Score:1, Interesting)
These are patents on the VFAT/FAT32 long-file-name kludge. They have been fought by PubPat and found invalid, but the patents were restored upon appeal. Read about it [wikipedia.org] and you'll know why I stick with 8.3 file names on the embedded systems I work with. When lawyers are involved, being in the right is the road to bankruptcy!
Seems to be about VFAT (Score:2, Insightful)
There's no obvous links to the patents themselves but from their names I'd say they are about VFAT not FAT itself. VFAT is the kludge that allows long file names on FAT filesystems.
If FAT alone was the issue then it would be its own prior art because it was first used in the early '80s, its specifications were widely known well before 1990 and any patents would have expired by now.
These patents date from 1992 to 1995 so only have a few years to run, but long enough to incentivize a switch away from (V)FAT I
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Yes. Just to make it clear. The patents do NOT cover:
1. Putting files on a disk
2. The FAT file system
3. Using "long" filenames to name files.
What the patents cover is a scheme by which long filenames are emulated on a FAT disk, which normally can only handle 8.3 filenames.
In addition the patents cover a bit of actual innovation. The obvious method of doing this is to make a hidden file containing the long filenames. Microsoft instead made hidden directory entries (a whole lot of them) containing the long fi
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I agree that the Microsoft patent is bogus. Just wanted to state that things are not as black & white as people make it out to be.
I think a better attack is that you cannot interoperate without violating this patent. If this was a technique by which Microsoft could read/write FAT *faster* than anybody else, then maybe the patent could stand. But in fact you cannot write FAT *at all* without violating this patent, and you must be able to write FAT to use a device that can also be stuck into a Windows mac
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