A U.S. government agency agreed this week to re-examine a controversial Microsoft patent on the Windows file format, following an objection from a public-interest group.
In April, the Public Patent Foundation asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to revoke a patent that covers the FAT (File Allocation Table) file system--the older of two main systems used by Windows to store files. Last year, Microsoft said it was seeking to license the FAT patent on reasonable terms as part of a broader push toward sharing its intellectual-property portfolio with the industry
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