3 ms·

MPEG LA can still change the terms whenever they please and theor recent behavior has been troubling (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100430/0232599255.shtml

• danbmil99 16y ago
  This. Look who are major patent holders at MPEG-LA: Microsoft and Apple. Do you trust your blood enemies to a gentleman's agreement? MPEG-LA has been decidedly vague and "don't worry, be happy" about their long-term royalty plans. One might assume they would never increase the price, but can you be sure? In fact, MS and Apple could even pull out of MPEG-LA at some point and charge exorbitant fees. Google simply does not want to be at any risk for that sort of FUD in the marketplace. I think that, combined with their ideological DNA (Patents BAAD, open source GOOOD) explains the decision pretty well.
  • thomasz 16y ago
    > This. Look who are major patent holders at MPEG-LA: Microsoft and Apple. Do you have a source for that? I've read quite a few times that at least Microsoft pays more for licenses than they get back.
    • danbmil99 16y ago
      http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/avc/Documents/avc-att1.pdf http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/avc/Documents/avc-att1.p... Microsoft: US patents: US 6,563,953 US 6,735,345 US 7,289,673 and a number of foreign filings, likely of the same IP. Apple: US 7,292,636 US 7,548,584 US 7,551,674 US 7,339,991 doesn't matter if they pay in, the point is they are patent holders, and have a say in licensing terms.