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I'm not really disagreeing with your substantive points but wanted to clear up a misunderstanding. The MPEG-LA does not enforce anything. Companies with patent

I'm not really disagreeing with your substantive points but wanted to clear up a misunderstanding. The MPEG-LA does not enforce anything. Companies with patents in the pool can enforce them (they can also license them outside the pool). Companies (that aren't Lodsys like trolls) aren't likely to bring action where there isn't significant revenue to obtain unless there is a strategic threat to them. I would also like to pick up your language. The MPEG codecs are open although they are not free, Free or Libre.

ZeroGravitas 13y ago
They're only "open" according to some definitions. In this list of definitions of "open standard" in Wikipedia it only meets 2.5 out of 18, and the first one is that of a group that develops the MPEG standards: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_standard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_standard The main sticking point, which is also what holds up W3C and IETF acceptance is not being "royalty-free".