Here's a stupid question: per the site, "any entity wishing to make an active and material contribution to the development of future HDMI Specifications" can join the HDMI Forum for $15,000 p.a., and the Board of Directors is elected by majority vote by members.

Is there anything other than the money and desire to do so stopping 100 well-heeled Linux users from joining up and packing the board with open source-friendly directors who would as their first official act grant AMD permission to release its driver?

This sounds like what microsoft did to get their Office formats standardised by ISO. Paid membership to a bunch of folk and had the vote in favour of approving the standard. (I'm summarising *a lot*, but that's the general gist of it).

You’d want to submarine it because the forum could change its rules in “defense”.

But yes, it wouldn’t be much to do.