[CodesInChaos]

Are the exFAT patents still a problem nowadays?

> exFAT was a proprietary file system until 2019, when Microsoft released the specification and allowed OIN members to use their patents.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExFAT#Legal_status

[slavik81]

The patent will also expire in 2027 [1]. We can look forward to it being entirely unencumbered at that point.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20090164440?oq=US2009164...

[ksec]

I sometimes wonder if companies could choose to expire their patents earlier. Especially in cases when there are little to no strategic value to uphold them, but lots of potential value to unlock when they are gone.

[NotYourLawyer]

> We also support the eventual inclusion of a Linux kernel with exFAT support in a future revision of the Open Invention Network’s Linux System Definition, where, once accepted, the code will benefit from the defensive patent commitments of OIN’s 3040+ members and licensees.

I don’t know exactly what that means. But it sounds like something different from “we hereby grant everybody a license to any and all exFAT patents.”

[loeg]

Good for OIN, but it doesn't help non-Linux systems.