Nice try, Microsoft

Is Microsoft as lame as this makes them sound? And can they be serious about filing an appeal?

MICROSOFT LOSES PATENT BATTLE
In a victory for "open source" advocates, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected a Microsoft application for a patent on a system called File Allocation Table (FAT), which lets people create and find files on a computer using easy-to-remember names. The reason for the rejection is that the technology in question is already widely used throughout the industry. Independent patent expert Greg Aharonian comments: "It's like getting a patent on cheesecake." Microsoft plans to file an appeal. (AP/USA Today 1 Oct 2004)

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-10-01-fat-patent-rejected