According to the press release, ?FAT is ubiquitous, it?s obvious, and Microsoft should not be allowed to extract a license or royalty from companies who want to distribute products that contain FAT. McDonald?s has been distributing products containing FAT since 1954?more than twenty years before Microsoft was founded.

Certainly there?s no reason why this patent should have been issued in 1996. It amounts to abuse of the patent and trademark system. We have just fended off a number of suits pertaining to FAT, and we don?t intend to be embroiled or emdeepfried in any more litigation about FAT.?

more from [url=http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1569534,00.asp]Eweek[/url]

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Filed under: /dev/nullies - @ June 16, 2004 5:37 pm