Photo by Rafael Bonifaz

Even just before Google released VP8 and WebM as Free Software, MPEG-LA and likely partners started rattling their (dark)light sabers threatening to assemble a patent pool to collect royalties from WebM users, just like they do with MPEG and H.264. Please bear with me while I show why it's nothing but a bluff to scare businesses and people away from the multimedia format that will displace the MPEG-LA golden-egg layer. Unless their FUD campaign succeeds, that is.

It can be taken as a given that MPEG-LA or other patent trolls will attempt to collect royalties from any multimedia formats. What got my attention was a combination of the fanfare, the timing and the wording of the press announcements.

Smart patent trolls don't scare people away from technology covered by their patents...

• Microsoft and MPEG-LA Called “Patent Trolls”, Antitrust Complaint Filed
• YouTube is Embracing VP8/WebM, But Software Patent Trolls and DRM Stand in the Way
• Patent Troll Larry Horn and Steve Jobs Prepare to Attack Google's VP8, According to FUD Sites
• Techrights Welcomes Google's WebM/VP8 Push
• Bad Apple, Part II: Apple Carries on Armament With Software Patents, Harms Firefox
• “The fight has been around a long time, now the target of Microsoft is Theora”
• WebM/VP8 is Not Open Source