The United States Patent and Trademark Office has agreed to a request that it reexamine a patent granted to Microsoft covering the FAT (File Allocation Table) file system used in Windows.
A non-profit group called The Public Patent Foundation asked the USPTO in April to revoke the patent on grounds that FAT has become a ubiquitous format found in numerous devices. FAT is also used by the open source community to provide communication between Windows and UNIX-based systems.
Microsoft announced last year that it was looking to license FAT, sparking fears Redmond would wield its legal prowess against the fledgling Linux market.