Patent Infringement Lawsuits
In February 2009, Microsoft filed a patent infringement lawsuit against TomTom alleging that the device maker's products infringe on patents related to FAT32 file system. As some TomTom products are based on Linux, this marked the first time that Microsoft tried to enforce its patents against the Linux platform. The lawsuit was settled out of court the following month with an agreement that Microsoft be given access to four of TomTom's patents, that TomTom will drop support for the FAT32 file system from its products, and that in return Microsoft not seek legal action against TomTom for the five year duration of the settlement agreement.
In October 2010, Microsoft filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Motorola alleging several patents (including two of the FAT32 file system patents) were not licensed for use in the Android operating system. They also submitted a complaint to the ITC. Developers of open source software have designed methods intended to circumvent Microsoft's patents.
Read more about this topic: File Allocation Table, Legal Issues
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