@strypey You don't really need to mandate the protocol itself. Matter kind of sucks because it does this (you get specific interfaces allowed by google, and then do paid vigs for certifications, and custom behavior is right back to proprietary apps anyway.)

You just need to say the I/O layers are expressly exempted from all IP laws and either a specification "suitable for a practitioner of the arts" (or whatever the patent language for "someone who works in this field") or the source code form used to do the encoding.

a lot of companies are bullshitters about this. i love supernote, but their "we can't open source the format because we can't decide how to spec it" is absolute cap and we all know it.