[link|http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/30/microsoft_fat_patent_rejected/|http://www.theregist..._patent_rejected/]

Microsoft's attempt to create a lucrative future revenue stream from its patent portfolio has tripped at the first hurdle. After an appeal, the US Patent Office has struck down Microsoft's '517 patent (USPTO 5,579, 517) on the FAT file system. Camera makers, amongst many other consumer electronics manufacturers, use the FAT file system on compact flash cards and other removable media.

I found this amusing:

Industry watchers noted how earlier in the year, Redmond had hired Marshall Phelps, the IBM attorney who in the Eighties, built up Big Blue's IP program from nothing into a multi-billion dollar business.

The difference being, of course, that IBM actually invents lots of new stuff...