When I heard this news, I assumed it was related to something like the licensing agreements Microsoft has with third parties, rather than their simply being spi

When I heard this news, I assumed it was related to something like the licensing agreements Microsoft has with third parties, rather than their simply being spitefully "evil". If they licensed H.264, for example, surely that license would stipulate boundaries to avoid every browser using the "IE video plugin" to render H.264 and circumvent the patent.