This is Appalling

I am opposed to any standard that is not released on a royalty free basis.  A non-free standard is called TAX and should only be available to the government.  If a company develops something they wish to become a standard, then they should release the rights to the item either to the standards body, or the public domain.

The entire world has seen the preditory practices of big business and the dampening of innovation and creativity, not to mention the duplicate efforts to avoid falling victim to a patented standards.  This has been exemplified in the GIF controversy, the JAVA controversy, the establishment of MS as a monopoly, and others.  

Abe Milde