Bruce Perens: Microsoft and TomTom Settle, Justice and Linux Lose

“Since I last wrote on this topic, TomTom brought a counter-suit
against Microsoft, attempting to get the software giant to license
four mapping patents that TomTom claims MS infringed. Tomtom
apparently had previously been attempting to convince Microsoft to
license. So, it’s hard for me to find sympathy for either player in
these lawsuits, but there’s lots of sympathy to hand out to the
software industry, justice, and Linux – all losers in this
deal.

“Justice lost because there’s been no trial to overturn the FAT
filesystem patents. As venture capitalist Larry Augustin wrote:
“Those of us who have PhDs in computer disciplines and have studied
operating systems and file systems, don’t see anything particularly
innovative in FAT or its extension to support longer file names,
FAT32.

“Indeed, the FAT patents have been invalidated for being
non-innovative in Germany, and only survived invalidation in the
U.S. through a patent office appeal in which opponents were not
allowed to participate. It would take a trial in court to finally
settle the issue, a trial that Microsoft would likely have
lost.

“But justice is too expensive. A trial to invalidate the eight
patents Microsoft brought against TomTom, none of them poster-boys
for innovation, would have cost more than TomTom had to spend,
perhaps in excess of $10 million dollars. Obviously Microsoft
offered TomTom an out for much less than that, but all we’ve been
told is that TomTom paid Microsoft, and Microsoft didn’t have to
pay Tomtom. How much?”

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