The battle for ownership of the next generation codec just got serious, and this week’s merging of interest by a group of six companies, Microsoft and Google among them, could mean HEVC’s reign is very short-lived. The current debate over who should have royalties for inventing HEVC is likely to spill over into an expensive patent war – fought primarily between members of the two HEVC factions, while Microsoft and Google and others quietly work to obsolete the standard. In the process, pay TV operators, studios, broadcasters and OTT technology providers will all be on tenterhooks, undecided about whether to go ahead with HEVC or wait until a royalty free codec emerges. This week Google and Microsoft threw in their…