Clubbing the Tom-Tom
I’ve been doing some research on the issues in Microsoft’s lawsuit against Tom-Tom. Here’s what I’ve found about the patents are at issue in the case:
Patent | Issued | Expires | Title | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Car Navigation Systems | ||||
6,175,789 | Jan 16 2001 | 2018 | - | Vehicle Computer System with Open Platform Architecture |
7,054,745 | May 30 2006 | 2023 | - | Method and System For Generating Driving Directions |
7,117,286 | Oct 3 2006 | 2023 | - | Portable Computing Device-integrated Appliance |
6,202,008 | Mar 13 2001 | 2018 | - | Vehicle Computer System with Wireless Internet Connectivity |
User Interface Model | ||||
6,704,032 | Mar 9 2004 | 2021 | - | Methods and Arrangements for Interacting with Controllable Objects within a Graphical User Interface Environment Using Various Input Mechanisms |
FAT | ||||
5,579,517 | Nov 26 1996 | 2013 | Nov 28 2006 | Common Name Space for Long and Short Filenames |
5,758,352 | May 26 1998 | 2015 | Oct 10 2006 | Common Name Space for Long and Short Filenames |
Flash Memory Management | ||||
6,256,642 | Jul 30 2001 | 2018 | - | Method and System for File System Management Using a Flash-Erasable, Programmable, Read-only Memory |
First, some discussion of scope…
As you read through these, the first thing that will become apparent is that the first four, the car navigation system patents, are no threat to Linux whatsoever.
-
- Login or register to post comments
Printer-friendly version
- 5901 reads
PDF version
More in Tux Machines
- Highlights
- Front Page
- Latest Headlines
- Archive
- Recent comments
- All-Time Popular Stories
- Hot Topics
- New Members
digiKam 7.7.0 is released
After three months of active maintenance and another bug triage, the digiKam team is proud to present version 7.7.0 of its open source digital photo manager. See below the list of most important features coming with this release.
| Dilution and Misuse of the "Linux" Brand
|
Samsung, Red Hat to Work on Linux Drivers for Future Tech
The metaverse is expected to uproot system design as we know it, and Samsung is one of many hardware vendors re-imagining data center infrastructure in preparation for a parallel 3D world.
Samsung is working on new memory technologies that provide faster bandwidth inside hardware for data to travel between CPUs, storage and other computing resources. The company also announced it was partnering with Red Hat to ensure these technologies have Linux compatibility.
| today's howtos
|
Bruce Perens: Analyzing Microsoft's Linux Lawsuit
itmanagement.earthweb.com: There are other striking features of this suit: the technologies claimed in the 8 patents involved are so old and obvious that it's fair to say they have a high "Duh!" factor. There's an anti-trust angle to this suit that could blow up in Microsoft's face. And there's a high probability that some or all of the patents involved are invalid, due to recent court decisions.
Is this a serious suit, or an effort to stir up fear, uncertainty, and doubt about Linux at a critical time, when government and industry is taking up Open Source in a big way? TomTom has shallow pockets, relative to Microsoft, pockets that have already been drained by other lawsuits. Will TomTom have to settle and license regardless of the validity of Microsoft's patent claims, rather than drop $10 or $20 million in defending themselves?
Let's take a close look at what's happening.