Litterary aspirations be damned. There is no way you can write about the legal role of standards and still maintain it is a creative process:
A standard is a uniform set of specifications for some or all aspects of a product (i.e., a good or service) or other activity. The standard is a problem solution for repeated use that allows such products or activities to interoperate without special arrangement.
A de jure standard is a standard which has been developed in collaboration with, and approved by, an official standards organisation.
A de facto standard is a standard that has become a standard because it is widely used rather than because it was officially approved by some standards organisation.
Exciting stuff?
Or maybe not…