Microsoft FAT patent fails in Germany

While the U.S. courts recently reaffirmed Microsoft's FAT (File Allocation Table) patents, the German Patent Federal Court has just dismissed the patent for use in Germany.

According to a report in the German news publication Heise Online, the court has denied the protection that the European Patent Office granted to Microsoft under EP 0618540 for a "common namespace for long and short filenames." This was based on Microsoft's US Patent No. 5,758,352. The German Patent Court stated that the patent claims Microsoft made are "not based on inventive activity."


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The DRM threat to desktop Linux

By Jack Schofield

The growth of HDTV in the US threatens "the potential marginalization of Linux to older machines or servers," according to Brian Proffitt, Managing Editor of Linux Today, because of the DRM (digital rights management) system much high-def content may employ. Proffitt says:

If HD content will be king, then the manufacturers ... will either have to sign-up for this DRM scheme or they won't. Given that in three or four years, which is when such a DRM plan is expected to be implemented, Vista will have probably gotten itself installed on a majority of the world's desktops and there'll be even more broadband to deliver HD content, only a suicidal card manufacturer would opt out of this DRM scheme.


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SCO Vs. Blogger

For three and a half years, a blogger named Pamela Jones has led a relentless online crusade against software maker SCO Group, posting thousands of articles bashing the company for suing IBM over the Linux operating system.

Now the Lindon, Utah, software company is fighting back by seeking to take a deposition from Jones. Just one problem: They can't find her.

SCO tried last week to serve a subpoena to Jones at a house in Darien, Conn., where they believe she's been living, but the attempt was unsuccessful, according to a person close to the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Read more on Forbes