WebM is a format nobody asked for and nobody wants.
It's claimed that WebM is patent free, but this is impossible. There's just too many patents in the video space, any one of which could surface and tank this format.
Remember GIF itself was, for a while, subject to patent problems.
At least with H264 companies like Cisco are releasing implementations with indemnity from that (http://www.openh264.org/) which I think is better than coming up with some wonky new format.
As far as I understand it, although there are many patents in the video space, they are not evenly distributed across all possible approaches and algorithms. Instead, when the next MPEG/ITC standard begins to crystalize, a bazillion companies rush to file patents on some specific, small part of the format so they can join MPEG-LA and get a passive revenue stream.
In particular, if you design a video compression format that deliberately avoids doing what MPEG4 or H.264 does, your odds of patent infringement go down drastically.
It's claimed that WebM is patent free, but this is impossible. There's just too many patents in the video space, any one of which could surface and tank this format.
Remember GIF itself was, for a while, subject to patent problems.
At least with H264 companies like Cisco are releasing implementations with indemnity from that (http://www.openh264.org/) which I think is better than coming up with some wonky new format.