MS v Linux: Sparks of the Tom Tom Fire stubbornly refuse to die

“As per the claim advanced by the companies, the agreement
includes patent coverage for Microsoft’s three file management
systems patents provided in a manner that is fully compliant with
TomTom’s obligations under the GPLv2. At the same time, TomTom will
remove, within 2 years from its products, the functionality related
to two file management system patents (the ‘FAT LFN patents’) that
enables efficient naming, organizing, storing and accessing of file
data. During the said period, the agreement provides for coverage
directly to TomTom’s end customers under the said patents. This may
lead to TomTom technically using the Microsoft FAT LFN (File
Allocation Table/Long File Name) patents for the next two years,
but it won’t be actually using the features of those patents, which
may imply that TomTom will be replacing the long file name support
provided by these patents with a different technology that does not
belong to Microsoft.”

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