Well, yeah. SDOs are also supported by membership dues. Companies often spend big bucks on standardization for things like dues, participation costs (e.g., travel expenses for conference attendance) and having a staff of people that does nothing but standardization. So the member companies are best served if the SDO keeps the entrance fee (i.e., the cost of the standards) high enough to keep low-cost competitors from encroaching. It sucks, but that’s the way it works. UNLESS the standard incorporates a lot of intellectual property, in which case the standards are available for free. Guess how that works!
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