MPEG-LA Considering Patent Pool For VP8/WebM

An anonymous reader writes "Well, that didn't take long. Larry Horn, CEO of MPEG-LA, the consortium that controls the AVC/H.264 video standard, says the group is looking at creating a patent pool license for VP8 and WebM, Google's new open source, royalty-free HTML5 video format... So much for a Web video standard unencumbered by patent issues." We talked about VP8/WebM a couple of days ago when Google open sourced it. Reader Stoobalou points out another late-night email from Steve Jobs, who was asked to comment on VP8 vs. H.264. Jobs laconically sent a pointer to the technical analysis we linked before, where the poster says "VP8 copies way too much from H.264 for anyone sane to be comfortable with it, no matter whose word is behind the claim of being patent-free."

Comments

Is Apple just another patent troll now?

[walterbyrd]

It is beginning to look like it to me. Apple is acting exactly like Microsoft. Apple feels threatened by Google. Instead of competing by making a better product, it's just lawsuits and Tonya Harding tactics.

I am quickly losing respect for Apple.

Re:Abolishing swpats the only solution

[commodore64_love]

>>>Does this mean that these technologies would not have been invented anyway ? I don't think so

I do. Why would JVC invest billions of dollars developing the VHS VCR, if they couldn't get a cut of each sale? Other companies like RCA, gpx, et cetera would just swoop-in and copy the design, and JVC would go bankrupt due to the billion-dollar unpaid bill.