

HTML5 and Web Video: Questions for the Industry from the Community - ZeroGravitas
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2011/02/02/html5-and-web-video-questions-for-the-industry-from-the-community.aspx

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ZeroGravitas
Most interesting bit: _"Microsoft is willing to commit that we will never
assert any patents on VP8 if Google will make a commitment to indemnify us and
all other developers and customers who use VP8 in the future. We would only
ask that we be able to use those patent rights if we are sued first by
somebody else. If Google would prefer a patent pool approach, then we would
also agree to join a patent pool for VP8 on reasonable licensing terms so long
as Google joins the pool and is able to include all other major providers of
playback software and devices."_

Could be an olive branch, or it could be a veiled threat (they seem to be
implying that VP8, much like Linux, actually infringes Microsoft patents).
Unfortunately the rest of it seems like political posturing, and Mr
Hachamovitch has always been seemed a slippery character (going on his posts
to that blog) so I'd have to assume this is a cunning rhetorical trap rather
than a genuine offer until someone who knows better convinces me otherwise.

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thristian
That bit was hilarious to me - Microsoft and Google joining up to form a
patent pool with zero patents in it. If that's what it takes to get MS on
board with WebM, why not?

Also, it's worth pointing out that "patent indemnification" is a stronger
guarantee than MPEG-LA gives for H.264.

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js2
Shouldn't the title be (and I know it was just taken from the original) _HTML5
and Web Video: Questions for Google from Dean Hachamovitch, Corporate Vice
President, Internet Explorer_ :-)

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JBiserkov
Too long, HN limits title length to 80 characters.

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JBiserkov
"Microsoft pays into MPEG-LA about twice as much as it receives back for
rights to H.264."

