On paper, Google is taking a principled stand in favor of open
technologies. But they’re not really. First, WebM is not truly
an open technology because it almost certainly uses patents owned
by MPEG-LA or its members. Right now, the patent holders are
ignoring it because it’s too small to bother with. We’ve seen
this tactic many times before (for example, NTP vs. RIM): bide
your time until a lot of people are using the infringing software
and then hit it with a massive lawsuit for maximum profit. WebM
is its own patent trap, and Google refuses to indemnify users
against possible claims further down the road. If they were
certain it was IP-clean then why hesitate to provide that
protection? Clearly they don’t want that unknown, possibly large
liability on their balance sheet.
