This sounds bad. Does it mean that Google admits that VP8 is patent encumbered now? What are those patents and is it really true or it's Google chickening before the MPEG-LA trolls and there are no real patents involved?
Google should disclose what those patents are so others could evaluate whether they really affect the codec or not. While I don't like that Google obliges these trolls, this can be conductive for wider VP8 adoption.
I don't mean trolls in a sense of them not producing anything. I mean in a sense of extorting money for what they didn't make. I.e. racketeers. Non practicing aspect is not the case here. Racket aspect is. They deserve to be called trolls, even though usually it implies NPEs.
IOW, they are patent holders just like any other patent holder. You can dislike the patent system, but sloppiness in language doesn't help your argument, such as it is.
Being patent holders doesn't imply they must become money extortionists and racketeers. Just because they have tons of patents doesn't mean they should bully everyone around. And they do, just making threats and FUD, without actually saying what patents are supposedly violated. That's protection racket and a form of patent trolling.
And personally I think software patents don't deserve to exist, and don't respect those who use them to extort money or to prevent competition.
