There's nothing really all that interesting here until this mess gets hashed out in the courts; it's all academic (and legal) for now. Nobody (that matters) is

There's nothing really all that interesting here until this mess gets hashed out in the courts; it's all academic (and legal) for now. Nobody (that matters) is going to aggressively move to VP8 prior to that; you'll get the usual lip service. Or you'll get ignored. Or both. Until there's some standing and some idea of the patent landscape, any commercial entity (with money to move forward, which is also money to lose in a patent tussle) will be making an investment that may get the company either nowhere, or sued. If it proves unencumbered, VP8 would put a ceiling on MPEG-LA and H.264, and thus the patent holders will undoubted get to tussle this in court. If encumbered, you'll either pay or you'll be blocked depending on what the patent holder(s) want. Apple has H.264 in hardware. They'll either ignore VP8, or it'll take multiple replacement cycles or a software work-around to get a new CODEC out. And given that Apple already has H.264, they'll likely be disinclined just because VP8 is not Better Enough to warrant the migration effort. Either way the tussle ends, we'll know VP8 is in the clear or not. Odds are that there are patents. But until the legal tussles end and the CODEC is unencumbered or encumbered and licensed, it's all academic.