Google on Wednesday introduce a novel, open source video format called WebM that Google hopes will become "a world-class medium arrangement for the open web."

In other words, WebM is meant to be a video format that is not burdened by copyright maintain from other technology companies and will be free to use by anybody who wants to put video on the Web.

An open video format is seen as a significant development for Web technologies, because HTML 5, the next version of the language that governs the Web, will contain the capability to implant video onto a Web page without the required for a browser plugin like Microsoft's Silverlight or Adobe's Flash.

The panic is that without an open video format that is free for anybody to use, the cost of producing Web video content would be out of reach for the average Web developer and smaller companies.

But there are previously signs that copyright claims might be made against WebM, making it just as burdened as other video formats.