Blog 17: Nokia Blocks Google's Video Standard

In a surprisingly confrontational move, Nokia supported the H.264 codec and refused to license out or otherwise share patents that would likely be necessary for Google's VP8 standard. Nokia criticized Google for attempting to force its new codec down the throats of Internet users and cited the excellence of the collaborative effort involved in creating the H.264 codec. Nokia's refusal to cooperate with Google is intended to kill the VP8 codec--the combination of legal and technical fees associated with bringing VP8 to market should make it cost-prohibitive for Google to use anything but H.264.

The article on Foss Patents from which this post is derived suggested that Google's "Do No Evil" motto may not be as innocent and benevolent as it seems: Google does not want to pay royalties to individuals and companies that have heavily invested to develop video technology and wants to gain control of the Internet to best benefit their own products and services, while leaving competitors by the wayside. Within this context, it is no surprise that Google (over)paid for Motorola Mobility in an attempt to gain access to thousands of patents to bully around competitors. However, Google has failed to achieve a meaningful return on the $12.5 billion dollar acquisition and has lost many of its recent patent lawsuits.

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/03/nokia-comments-on-vp8-patent.html