EFF Launches New Patent Reform Project to Defend Innovation

The software codecs are used to create consumer products that are cheaper and more effective. People would of paid to have those, or equivalent, codecs created in order to sell more devices and media folks would of still standardized them in order to sell more media. All of this would of happened regardless of patents.

In fact, in all likelihood we would be much better off with better codecs and more innovation because it would of removed the financial incentive for companies like Apple (and the rest of the MPEG-LA folks) to squash open standards in favor of trying to force people to use expensive codecs they controlled through patents.

Corporations have learned how to leverage their large legal budgets to stifle innovative competitors. It is not who produces the best product that wins the market, it is how has the ability to exploit the legal system the best.

This can't help but cause things to be worse off for most everybody. (unless they are a patent attorney, member of the big corp, or the government bureaucrats they have to sway to their side)