This is troubling as well. Any PIC application that accesses a CF card needs to license the FAT from Microsoft? "Late last year, Microsoft began demanding royalty payments for the use of its FAT (file allocation table) system, for which it was granted a patent in 1996. A group called the Public Patent Foundation in April called for that patent to be revoked, claiming that this amounted to an abuse of monopoly power by Microsoft." -----Original Message----- From: Russell McMahon Sent: Jun 4, 2004 1:27 AM To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Subject: [EE]: Microsoft granted patent on button click timimg Microsoft granted patent on button click timing. http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/NL/A05F9C5244A45A33CC256EA800334950 I must have missed the US patent office decision to exclude prior art from consideration in granting US patents -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu