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FAT PATENT - OPEN DOCUMENT STANDARD
MICROSOFT v. REAL NETWORKS

Brian Grainger

First, Microsoft were battling in the courts again regarding their supposed patent on the FAT disk formatting system. The courts ruled that Microsoft did not have a patent. Microsoft have not given up the fight and may well take the case higher up the legal ladder.

The result of this case is important because many storage media devices, such as camera memory and USB memory sticks, use FAT as the formatting system. Also, FAT is often used in the Linux world as a means of transferring file created in Windows to the open operating system. This is because interoperability with NTFS, the Windows XP formatting system, is not error free.

So far, Microsoft have not asked for money for rights to use FAT, but maybe their aim is to make another hurdle for Linux to overcome.

The new Open Document Standard from OASIS, which I recently reported is to be adopted by Massachusetts, has been passed to the International Standard Organisation (ISO) for ratification. The ISO is an important body in the standards world and it would be a major coup for the Open Document Standard to be accredited by the ISO. Many public bodies demand compliance with ISO standards so the Open Document Format could become widespread, which in turn may force Microsoft to provide it as an option from its Office software.

Microsoft have, this week, bought off another of its anti-trust detractors in order to close one of its outstanding legal cases. Real Networks were suing Microsoft with regard to its bundling Media Player with Windows. Real were also instrumental in supporting the EU in their case against Microsoft. This week, Microsoft have settled for around $760m, about 75% of the original amount Real were asking for. In return for the money, Real have agreed to withdraw from the EU anti-trust case and support the MSN search tool, a market segment where Microsoft are fighting Google for supremacy.

Apart from the money, Real gets its music subscription service promoted on MSN and its games promoted through MSN Games and X-Box Live Arcade.

As I reported at the beginning of the year, Microsoft have already settled with all the other supporters of the EU anti-trust case, so presumably this will now collapse due to lack of complaints!

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