Fencing and Tollgating the Internet

"What journalists are missing out on is that H.264 is a patented codec, and that the patent holders expect to collect royalties. The last H.264 patents expire in 2028. Mr. Blizzard draws some apt parallels with GIF and MP3, and the problems caused when patented, royalty-burdened technologies collide with a supposedly open and unencumbered Web. This is a must-read for anyone wanting more good information and less not-well-informed cheerleading on these issues."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• HTML5 video and H.264 – what history tells us and why we’re standing with the web(Jan 26, 2010)
• bringing theora to youtube (the hard way)(Nov 02, 2009)
• an update on open video codecs and quality(Jun 17, 2009)
• Hardest-to-understand EULA *ever* when you install WoW on GNU/Linux(Jan 09, 2009)
• Native Ogg Theora support in Firefox(Aug 01, 2008)
• Evangelist: Mozilla Has "Historic Opportunity" to Advocate for Users(Feb 26, 2008)
• Chris Blizzard Joining Mozilla's Team(Oct 18, 2007)