For example, let's look at the heavily patented field of video codecs. Right now, anyone can read the H.264 specification, you just have to pay potentially exo

For example, let's look at the heavily patented field of video codecs. Right now, anyone can read the H.264 specification, you just have to pay potentially exorbitant fees to the patent holders to implement it. Without patents, there's no monetary incentive to contribute to open standards, and the industry would move to either specifications under NDA or binary-only codecs. Or so the pro-software patent argument goes. In practice, there have been lots of undocumented binary formats parts of which are patented. The old .doc/.xls/.ppt formats had that status for years.