No, the companies that designed H.264 aren't really trolls. They actually do R&D and sell real products; patent royalties are relatively minor sources of revenue.
That doesn't matter though, even if they aren't today they easily could be tomorrow, whether through a change in their management, being purchased by another, etc.
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People tend to define open however it benefits them. It's not really worth feeding the trolls.
Trolls - patent trolls - are sort of the central concern here, aren't they?
No, the companies that designed H.264 aren't really trolls. They actually do R&D and sell real products; patent royalties are relatively minor sources of revenue.
The CEO of MPEG LA is also the CEO of a patent troll company called MobileMedia.
MPEG LA had no hand in designing h.264, it's solely a patent pool manager.
That doesn't matter though, even if they aren't today they easily could be tomorrow, whether through a change in their management, being purchased by another, etc.