Nel marzo 2009 TomTom sistemò la disputa riguardo le licenze , aquistando dalla Microsoft quella riguardante l'utilizzo del filesystem FAT32On March 2009, TomTom settled the patent dispute by purchasing licenses from Microsoft to use the FAT32 file system
Sebbene l'aquisto mise fine alla disputa , questioni rimasero riguardo le implicazioni per FAT riguardandi l'ecosistema LinuxAlthough the settlement has ended the conflict between Microsoft and TomTom, questions still remain about the implications for FAT in the broader Linux ecosystem
The 95% margin on the revenue suggests that the patents Microsoft is monetising here do not relate to technologies where their mark has sought assistance or advice. Rather, each company is likely to have been proactively approached by Microsoft and invited to take a license based on a somewhat vague assertion that they are infringing a basket of rights
The “sales process” is lawyer-led and well-understood. The target “customer” is likely to be asked to sign an NDA at the beginning of the process, and the price is likely to be set to be a little less expensive than contesting a patent lawsuit.
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This approach [....]is similar to the approach used by patent trolls.


