[whatwg] on codecs in a 'video' tag.

[Henri Sivonen]

On Mar 29, 2007, at 03:23, Dave Singer wrote:

> The dominant players in 3GPP are network operators and equipment  
> vendors, and the AAC patent owners are (to my impression) very much  
> both a minority and less powerful.

Even though Dolby may be the most central AAC patent holder, the top  
handset vendors (Nokia, Sony, Samsung, LG) have patents in the AAC  
portfolio.

Anyway, I think that without knowing what exactly went on inside the  
3GPP, it is reasonable to conjecture that Vorbis was not blocked due  
to technical flaws and instead legal fears, patent strategies or  
technology network effect management strategies were the real reason.

> They develop good technology and understand that without licenses  
> they don't have a business.  Just my personal opinion, you  
> understand;  I don't see anything wrong with this business model,  
> and indeed I think it benefits the industry.

 From the Web point of view, the wrong with the business model is  
that it does not fit together with notable business models related to  
making software that powers the Web. That's one reason why Web specs  
should stick to royalty-free ideas. My personal opinion is that the  
business models for making software that powers the Web shouldn't  
have to change to suit the business models of the relative outsiders  
(patent-funded R&D labs without end user products). (Elaborations  
about the merits or wrongness of the business model probably don't  
belong on this list and should be directed to politicians who have  
the power to change the legal framework.)

-- 
Henri Sivonen
hsivonen at iki.fi
http://hsivonen.iki.fi/