<i>users are not free to use your algorithm without the consent of the patent holders.</i><p>This is not true.  The patent holders signed an agreement when creating the standard that <i>requires</i> them to license to you under reasonable terms.  As far as I know, <i>they cannot refuse</i>.  This is how the process is carried out for many international standards: nobody wants to risk one of the patent holders going rogue.<p>This is in contrast to something like FAT, which was created by Microsoft, for Microsoft, and is controlled entirely by Microsoft.<p>Quite honestly, I think many of the companies involved would welcome the end of software patents.  The amount of legal wrangling they go through in order to avoid legal problems is tremendous, and for H.264, the fee is a mere 10 cents per unit for bulk licensing with a relatively low cap.  Hardly enough income for them, IMO, to justify the hassle created by software patents.