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LadyLaw · 07-14-2004

There is an article on AVN about the recent Markham hearing, which reiterates the fight has just begun....

http://www.avn.com/index.php?Primary_Navig...ntent_ID=108560

An excerpt from the article:

SANTA ANA, Calif. - In a tentative Markman order handed down late July 12 by U.S. District Judge James Ware, some claim terms in Acacia Research Corp.’s streaming media patent group claim were deemed indefinable, while others were held definable on Acacia’s terms.

Adult Internet challengers to the patents believe that the tentative ruling could yet pave the way toward a final ruling that they did not infringe the controversial Digital Media Transmission patent group and that the patent itself might be invalid, said two attorneys among the challengers’ legal teams.

Acacia, however, said that the Markman order still showed a solid case for patent infringement against the adult Internet defendants, and that on those terms Ware held indefinable Acacia intends to bring forth expert testimony to show otherwise in due course.

Acacia executive vice president Robert Berman said it was not unusual in Markman orders to “win on some issues and lose on some issues. And this case seems to be no different.” New Destiny/Homegrown Video chief Spike Goldberg and VS Media chief Greg Clayman, who have been co-leading the adult Internet’s challenge to the DMT patent claims, said they were extremely pleased with the Markman order.

“It looks like the judge went with Acacia on the remote locations and the digital decompressor [terms],” Foley & Lardner attorney Victor de Gyarfas, one of the challengers’ legal team, told AVNOnline.com. “He made it clear [earlier] that he was going to go with Acacia on that one. But with a lot of the others, he did seem to go with us, especially the unique identification code, the identification coding means, and the sequence encoder, and the library means.”

Fish & Richardson attorney Jonathan Singer said that that could prove crucial for the challengers. “It points both to possible non-infringement and possible invalidity,” he told AVNOnline.com. “We’re pleased with the results.”

“We still have a long way to go to finish this case up,” Goldberg told AVNOnline.com. “But this certainly is going to put Acacia into a very defensive mode instead of an offensive mode. For those people who have seen [the challenge] this far, they should be very proud of themselves.”
__________________________________________________ _____________

So yes, the fight has just begun, but the adult defendants (aka "low hanging fruit") have started strong in a case Acacia once termed as an easy battle. Whether or not prior art makes the underlying patent invalid remains to be determined.

The issue of attorney's fees is also mentioned in the article:

"The Markman order came down shortly after Goldberg and Clayman, for the Joint Defense Group, circulated an open letter to the adult Internet industry calling for help with the legal costs of the Acacia challenge, saying group members have already topped $1 million in attorneys’ fees to date in a case involving the kind of law that usually pulls hourly attorney fees between $400-600. "

07-14-2004	#38
LadyLaw Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 366	There is an article on AVN about the recent Markham hearing, which reiterates the fight has just begun.... http://www.avn.com/index.php?Primary_Navig...ntent_ID=108560 An excerpt from the article: SANTA ANA, Calif. - In a tentative Markman order handed down late July 12 by U.S. District Judge James Ware, some claim terms in Acacia Research Corp.’s streaming media patent group claim were deemed indefinable, while others were held definable on Acacia’s terms. Adult Internet challengers to the patents believe that the tentative ruling could yet pave the way toward a final ruling that they did not infringe the controversial Digital Media Transmission patent group and that the patent itself might be invalid, said two attorneys among the challengers’ legal teams. Acacia, however, said that the Markman order still showed a solid case for patent infringement against the adult Internet defendants, and that on those terms Ware held indefinable Acacia intends to bring forth expert testimony to show otherwise in due course. Acacia executive vice president Robert Berman said it was not unusual in Markman orders to “win on some issues and lose on some issues. And this case seems to be no different.” New Destiny/Homegrown Video chief Spike Goldberg and VS Media chief Greg Clayman, who have been co-leading the adult Internet’s challenge to the DMT patent claims, said they were extremely pleased with the Markman order. “It looks like the judge went with Acacia on the remote locations and the digital decompressor [terms],” Foley & Lardner attorney Victor de Gyarfas, one of the challengers’ legal team, told AVNOnline.com. “He made it clear [earlier] that he was going to go with Acacia on that one. But with a lot of the others, he did seem to go with us, especially the unique identification code, the identification coding means, and the sequence encoder, and the library means.” Fish & Richardson attorney Jonathan Singer said that that could prove crucial for the challengers. “It points both to possible non-infringement and possible invalidity,” he told AVNOnline.com. “We’re pleased with the results.” “We still have a long way to go to finish this case up,” Goldberg told AVNOnline.com. “But this certainly is going to put Acacia into a very defensive mode instead of an offensive mode. For those people who have seen [the challenge] this far, they should be very proud of themselves.” __________________________________________________ _____________ So yes, the fight has just begun, but the adult defendants (aka "low hanging fruit") have started strong in a case Acacia once termed as an easy battle. Whether or not prior art makes the underlying patent invalid remains to be determined. The issue of attorney's fees is also mentioned in the article: "The Markman order came down shortly after Goldberg and Clayman, for the Joint Defense Group, circulated an open letter to the adult Internet industry calling for help with the legal costs of the Acacia challenge, saying group members have already topped $1 million in attorneys’ fees to date in a case involving the kind of law that usually pulls hourly attorney fees between $400-600. "