The morality of the situation is very clear: Those standards are de facto law because they are treated by common practices as if they were the law. Hence they need to be in the public domain.
I agree that if those standards are indeed de facto law, they should be treated like law. But that is not the case the article makes. The articles makes a case around being surprised about getting sued for publishing copyrighted material without the owner's consent. Which is not suprising at all.
I agree that if those standards are indeed de facto law, they should be treated like law. But that is not the case the article makes. The articles makes a case around being surprised about getting sued for publishing copyrighted material without the owner's consent. Which is not suprising at all.