The Standards War

Always an active field, the setting and impact of standards in software and telecommunications has generated lots of comment, and more, recently. I'm particularly interested in claims of patent ambushing by Qualcomm, with claims from competitors that requests for high royalty payments (once technology is incorporated in standards) should be investigated by the European Technical Standards Institute.

Elsewhere, the relationship between open standards and Microsoft continues to develop, as some governments, notably Massachussetts, require public documents to be in stored in a non proprietary way. Microsoft is working with Ecma International, and there is also comment about a new standards to be put before ISO.

Can standards be an effective means of circumventing or resolving debates over the proper scope of IP and corporate power? Or does the risk of ambushing mean that this could just be another example of "forum shifting". For further information, once again one can do no better than consult the Register in the first instance.