This patent was asserted by Microsoft Corp. against TomTom. [Note: The claims listed are those claims surviving or amended by that Reexamination Certificate issued October 10, 2006.]
#98German Federal Patent Court declares FAT patent of Microsoft null and void
Applies to Claims 1
Last updated: 2 months ago
Summary / Description
Summary / DescriptionArticle describing how the patent was overturned in Germany in 2007.
 
Basic Information
Type of Prior ArtOnline Publication
 
URLwww.heise.de/english
 
Author/CreatorStefan Krempl and Robert W. Smith
 
TitleGerman Federal Patent Court declares FAT patent of Microsoft null and void
 
Publication DateMarch 2, 2007
 
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Additional Information
 
Notes / To Do
Notes
 
Excerpt
The Federal Patent Court has declared a Microsoft patent on the file allocation system File Allocation Table (FAT) invalid for the Federal Republic of Germany. The claim in question is the protection claim granted by the European Patent Office under EP 0618540 for a "common namespace for long and short filenames." This in turn is based on the US patent No. 5,758,352. At the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (GPTO) the patent is protected under DE 69429378. According to a recently published decision (PDF file) by the 2nd Division of the Federal Patent Court bearing the file number: 2Ni 2/05 (EU) and dated October 26, 2006 the claims made are "not based on inventive activity."
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Claims
Long file name with signature

In a computer system having a storage, a directory service for accessing directory entries and a file system that uses the directory entries to access files, a method, comprising the computer-implemented steps of: (a) creating a first directory entry for a file wherein the first directory entry holds a short filename for the file and the location of the file; (b) creating a second directory entry for the file wherein the second directory entry holds at least one portion of a long filename having a fixed number of characters and a signature that identifies that the second directory entry holds a first portion of the long filename; (c) storing the first directory entry and the second directory entry on the storage among the directory entries used by the directory service; (d) accessing the second directory entry by the directory service to access the file; and (e) creating and storing in the storage a sequence of at least one additional directory entry for holding a next sequential portion of the long filename.
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The patent was overturned in Germany in 2007.
The patent was overturned in Germany in 2007.
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