> It’s not like MPEG-LA is suing people for using independently-developed designs that just happen to infringe
I think you missed the whole FUD campaign against VPx, where they tried to persuade the public that VPx does infringe patents in their pool.
Re:Life inside MPEG
by CamperBob2 on Monday November 19, 2018 @11:51PM
(#18491872)
The problem comes in when patents have the effect of walling off an entire subfield of computer science from the perspective of the commercial R&D world.
Classic cases in point are IBM's patent on arithmetic encoding, which rendered that entire class of algorithms radioactive in the 1980s-1990s era, and the original Lempel-Ziv patent claims dating back to 1978.
We are most certainly not better off as a society because we granted decade+ monopolies on those claims, and I see no reason to think any differently of MPEG.
MPEG-LA are actively trying to impede development of open codecs, or slow them down with FUD and threats. They are acting like a classic racketeer thug. I'm surprised some are trying to whitewash their behavior. I guess glorified mafia is the way to "move things into the future" according to MPEG-LA supporters.
And that’s okay in my book. I much preferred the old days when everyone just paid Sony and Panasonic for a license than the current model where “free” codecs are bankrolled by spying on everyone’s email and helping Russians fix elections.