When a standard is made, specially one that is meant for general use, that may include any component that may require the payment of royalties it has failed from the onset. Any standard made to use by the general public needs to be made entirely free and open, so that it can be used by all on equal terms.
The moment royalties are possible, the standard is discriminating against those who can't pay since it would make that standard unusable for them. If that standard is supposed to be used by as many people or organizations as possible, it should be intrinsically open so that it can be adopted as widely as possible without having to worry possible liability of having found to be infringing of a patent or intellectual property.
The standard used to make everyone using it as a base, should come without any strings attached. The moment there is even a possibility that someone owns even a part of the standard, it defeats the main reason of having that standard.
In many ways, with society relaying on technology ever more for everyday tasks, we need the standards made open. Every piece of technology we use on our daily lives, needs to be open so that we can have access to as many options as possible. Open standards are about avoiding falling into the hands of whoever owns the standard, or most of it, taking us the chance to be able to choose what's best for us.
Not only that, if people aren't allowed to work with, or on, the standard freely we are going to be stuck without improvements to that standard for quite some time. Innovations on products would be few, and far between, since there is no incentive to make products that are distinct that those of the competition. There is no reason to improve the standard, since the main beneficiary would be who controls it, and makes most of the money from it.
It's on the best interest of the majority, that standards intended to be use as a base to be open and transparent on every respect.
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