What is Vendor A to do to protect itself from such an attack? One
approach is Vendor A patenting the technology and cross-licensing at
reasonable terms (like don't sue us and we won't sue you). What would
you suggest instead?
I have nothing against obtaining patents to be used only defensively.
If company A wants to do this, I presume it will start by give
everyone a royalty-free license to use the original standard.
We can also imagine a troll trap condition of the form "provided you
don't participate in any other patent license covering the use of the
standard which is offered to the general public and requires payment
to any specified party." I would not object to conditions of that
sort. IANAL so I don't know whether such conditions are considered
lawful in any country.
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