[mindslight]

> The dichotomy between software implementations and hardware implementations is unhelpful

Actually it's quite helpful. Something implemented in hardware has one fixed royalty per device, no matter what operating system or other customization has been performed. That implementation becomes a capability of the device, a manufacturers selling point. A software implementation is "shipped" over and over again as the software is updated, the user changes software packages, etc.

I'm pretty ambivalent on hardware patents, having grown up reading Don Lancaster, etc. But they could be a workable way to fund codec development while not encroaching on software freedom.