FAT patent concern: Linux killer or scaremongering?

Microsoft received a federal ruling this week rebuking claims against its File Allocation Table patents. Microsoft argued that FAT was first built in 1976 and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office basically agreed, saying the patents are "novel and non-obvious." That creates a huge potential land mine for the Linux community, because Microsoft can now seek royalties for FAT code, some say. Is the claim legitimate or just anti-Microsoft scaremongering? Only time will tell.

For more on the critics' concerns:
- read this TechWeb article

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