At PUBPAT's Request, Patent Office Rejects Microsoft FAT Patent

NEW YORK -- In the reexamination proceeding initiated earlier this year by the Public Patent Foundation ("PUBPAT"), the United States Patent and Trademark Office has rejected all of the claims of Microsoft's patent on the FAT file system, which Microsoft describes as "the ubiquitous format used for interchange of media between computers, and, since the advent of inexpensive, removable flash memory, also between digital devices."

This is a big win for the Public Patent Foundation and the public in general. Note also that Gates will be speaking tomorrow here at UC Berkeley and a few of us are planning an educational protest.