MPEG LA exists to extract patent royalties. By patent terms they are a 'legitimate' monopoly as the patent system was created to allow an inventor a temporary monopoly over their technology (20 yrs) on the condition that it passes to the public domain after that.
Given the early MPEG patents are in the mid - 90s they will begin to start expiring in 2015. Once we reach 2021 there will be a dozen free codecs with source code on the market.
In the meantime, MPEG LA does what it can to maximize its revenues.
While patents do confer a form of monopoly protection to an inventor and their assignees, that does not give anyone the right to form a cartel of multiple patent holders who work in concert to fix the price for the combined product.
MPEG-LA's workaround for that, which is what is at stake here, is some sort of carve-out with the FTC, stipulating that because it's an emerging standard, MPEG should not be subject to the normal restrictions on patent pooling.
Given the early MPEG patents are in the mid - 90s they will begin to start expiring in 2015. Once we reach 2021 there will be a dozen free codecs with source code on the market.
In the meantime, MPEG LA does what it can to maximize its revenues.