Teeth make smiles, and smiles make sales - Unidentified Harrods person in Alan Sugar's The Apprentice
|
|
|
US Justice Department peers at anti-Google video cartel
A VIDEO TECHNOLOGY backed by a number of high profile firms has been targeted in an anti-trust investigation by the US Justice Department, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The WSJ report cites sources who are "familiar with the matter" and suggests that the technology is being used to smother a free version that is backed by Google.
Streaming video royalty collecting firm MPEG-LA is the target of a formal probe, said the WSJ, and has managed to amass itself a nice range of video format patents for which it collects the royalties on behalf of cartel members. Those include Apple and Microsoft, and MPEG-LA has 1,700 patents related to the video codec hot potato, H.264.
The aim of the formal investigation is to find out whether MPEG-LA is using its considerable weight to shut out VP8, a rival and royalty-free video technology alternative that is backed by Google and supported by its software.
According to the WSJ, MPEG-LA is looking to shut down VP8 by dangling an air of uncertainty over its relevant patents. It suggested that users might be violating patents by using VP8, which any firm that's had some experience with technology-chasing patent lawyers might be keen to avoid.
"At stake is 'who is going to have competitive clout in the world after television,' said open source advocate Eben Moglen, a Columbia University professor who supports free and open software. µ
Share this:
Share
I'm not sure Florian Müller would be the one I turned to for unbiased commentary regarding Google and patents, anyway.
Intellectual Property is government granted monopoly, aka fascism at its finest. Patents and copyrights could not exist without the government holding a gun to everyone's heads and forcing people to accept these atrocities.
I find it endlessly ironic that the monopoly/cartel power granted by IP law must now be counter-regulated by even more government intervention into the marketplace - in this case to clamp down on the troll consortium that is MPEG-LA.
Fortunately, it's only a matter of time until free software and free standards become the norm. Regardless of whether or not WebM is allowed to flourish, most of the patents on H.264 will sunset by the end of this decade. The patent trolls of the world will have to shrink back under their rocks to gnash their teeth in despair.
Rest assured, I'm sure the authoritarian ruling elite will devise new schemes to ensnare the world's people and resources. These psychopathic deviants have neurophysiology that doesn't allow them to think or operate in any other way (look up neuroscientist James Fallon's talks on YouTube).
It is restraint of trade whenever an entity makes it illegal to compete with them--hence the anti-trust case. Whenever a company makes it illegal to compete with them all the anti-trust alarms should be going off.
Since MPEG-LA can't find any patent issues (within their own member's patents) by Google in their VP8 they chose to create a NEW pool of patents from a group of patent owners where their patents potentially could be violated by VP8.
In this case they didn't know who had what patents. Instead, they were fishing for anything to use against Google.
This was clearly done in an effort to destroy any competition to their product. The only real question is will they actually punish the members of these groups or will they just let them beg out if they drop their efforts against Google.
Googles got their panties all wadded up, bunch of babies.
A patent pool has been formed to prove, or disprove patent infringement.
Google being a member of mpeg la, could have formed their own patent pool if they wanted, and put to rest whether or not there were infringement issues, mpeg la is doing google's job for them.
I'm with Florian Mueller on this one.
"When it comes to patents, the odds are long against Google
I want to be frank. Despite my dislike for software patents, if I had to bet money, I would bet it on MPEG LA, not on Google."
http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011/02/mpeg-la-puts-googles-webm-video-format.html
AVC/H.264 patent holders.
http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/avc/Documents/avc-att1.pdf
Patent pool being formed to prove, or disprove VP8 patent infringement.
If nobody submits, good for google, if there are submissions, not so good.
http://www.mpegla.com/main/pid/vp8/default.aspx