OGG Vorbis changed the license to BSD to try to push if to replace mp3 and other closed source formats. It is much better than mp3 is similar to most closed source audio format... yet most of the hardware and software out there still don't support it... all of then support the weaker and patented lock mp3 format.
Timing have always to be perfect to gain the critical mass, but with all groups trying to reach the same goal, it's very hard to change this
So no, the problem is not the license, it's the groups behind each format and their power. Apple with macosx/safari and iphones, MS with windows and iexplorer, and google with youtube have the power to allow or block a format. Apple and MS both have shares in the H264 patent owners, so they clearly don't want to support any other format.
google could try to battle others (and with a good probability of winning) by first downgrade H264 quality over open formats and warn users to use chrome and firefox (to pressure MS and Apple to support the open formats) or install some plugin to support it. As youtube is so big and important, it is the perfect weapon for this. Of course, W3C should also be pressured to finally define the (correct) video standard. Sadly google is playing both sides, it's not doing enough to counter H264 nor promoting open formats and that makes Apple and MS stronger in to blocking any other open formats and leave Mozilla alone, fighting for open standards.
Alone, the open source community will have a hard time trying to fight this closed source/patented formats, as there are always lack of resources to developer as fast as companies that their only work is that. With support from big companies, friendly to open source, like google, cisco, ibm, facebook, twitter, redhat, etc, things could be better, but those companies always have dual standards and not always really support the open standards