More than half of the H.264 patents have expired

[hajj_3]

https://www.tomshardware.com/service-providers/streaming/h264-streaming-license-fees-jump-from-100000-to-4-5-million

As per usual, american greed knows no limit.

same info posted 2 posts above though the user's post didn't say what the link was.

[kurkosdr]

https://www.tomshardware.com/service-providers/streaming/h264-streaming-license-fees-jump-from-100000-to-4-5-million

As per usual, american greed knows no limit.

This is why I personally think royalty-encumbered formats have no place in the open web. Watching Netflix and Disney+ is a privilege, accessing the web should be a human right, since people are expected to access the web to file taxes, attend college courses, and do their jobs. In fact, this will become even more prevalent now that the upcoming oil crisis will reduce people's ability to commute to do things in-person.

For example, you may need to watch an instructional video that's a user guide for a governmental tax-filing service or as part of a college course, and then there is videoconferencing for work purposes

So, until there is a concrete, legally-binding definition of "FRAND", I think the web should steer clear of royalty-encumbered formats, yes, even if that means using less efficient formats such as VP8 or even Theora. Without a concrete, legally-binding definition of "FRAND", assuming that users will always be able to afford the royalties for H.264 decoders or that governments and state colleges will always be able to afford the H.264 streaming royalties has no basis in law other than vague allusions to "fair" and "reasonable" terms. In plain English, the fact that H.264 royalties have remained mostly affordable so far has always been a "gentlemen's agreement", not concrete law. But if the 2020s have shown us anything, it's that you cannot expect "gentlemen" to act like gentlemen.

The remaining patents for H.264 High Profile cannot expire soon enough, and let's count our lucky stars that H.265 went nowhere on the web and only saw success in pay-to-view streaming services (that are a privilege anyway, not a necessity).

(but good luck explaining the above to some people here)