Acacia

[Far-L]

Attention Content Providers:
If you have heard from a company called ACACIA and want to join us in defending against their unreasonable aggression, please contact Farrell@homegrownvideo.com
h34r: :grrr:

[Nickatilynx]

Whats the highlights of this story, Far-L ?

[Mutt]

i heard about this a few months ago, it sounded like complete and utter nonsense.

Far-L how far has their case gone? Why do you think you have to respond to it? Have you been told by a lawyer that Acacia might be successful in suing anybody who streams video on the Net?

They're sending out C&D letters at the moment, citing their 'patents.' Most people have been advising that we just ignore them and they'll go away, but if they're smart I think they will attack only the smaller companies/sites who can't defend themselves.

I doubt we'll see Acacia vs. RealPlayer or Microsoft, which is what makes them all the more dangerous. Wouldn't surprise me if they were backed by investors looking to put adult operators out of business.

I'll be interested to see how it develops.

C.

[Far-L]

Acacia is a very serious and ignoring it will not make it go away. This is how the company makes money. It is a well funded public company and they buy patents then sue people over them.

All the content providers are joining together to form some sort of consortium to fight their bullshit.

They are trying to shake down the adult companies because they think this will bring in quick money and establish precedent to go fight the bigger players.

Obviously, Microsoft and Real should join in to defend this but they will not until it becomes an issue for mainstream, non adult, companies.

In discussions with our attorney and a patent attorney, their case is without merit on many points but that is going to have to be fought to prove that.

Hopefully no one will roll over and pay them in the meantime.

[DrGuile]

We've got their letters.


....they're in the trash can...

doesnt even remotely apply to us.

Feel free to contact me Far-L

Silicon Valley is currently up against Hollywood, I wouldn't expect a huge uproar about this from their figureheads; since as I said Acacia would have to be out of their minds to go after MS/others. You're right, this is a shakedown, plain and simple. Trademarks and patents being the stupid things they are, you can't get rid of them without going to court. I'm hoping to slip under the radar, but I'll contribute to the 'Free Ron Levi' fund when they pass the hat at Internext 2004.



C.

[Far-L]

I agree that it is very defensible on multiple levels, but the fact remains that it will come down to a fight.

[Rox]

Yeah, I see they haven't C&D'd us at WB, with our fuckillion instances of streaming media.

Acacia's apparently taken a page out of PanIP's strategy manual.

Sorry to hear they've set their law dogs on ya, Far-L. Fucking greedy bastards.

[sarettah]

If you go to their site, they have the patents and links to the patent apps etc there...

The patents dont apply, they are really reaching....

shake down.... nothing more

[Far-L]

Thanks for the support!

One thing I know is that we are going to put an end to their crap and make the internet safe for streaming adult media for now and evermore.

[JerryW]

I looked over their first patent and it's bogus. It would fail both the prior art and the obviousness tests.

Far-L, you should be talking to Apple. They were developing Quicktime prior to the filing date of the first patent (1991) and no doubt have prior art on this. I used to work for a company that worked on pre-release copies of Quicktime in 1989-1990 and we did stuff that was covered by that patent. One of my co-workers wrote Premiere while I was there, before it was sold to Adobe, and he was passing edited video around on the servers for testing.



Last edited by JerryW at Nov 16 2002, 07:21 AM

[Far-L]

JerryW: That is extremely helpful information!

May you know 10,000 years of prosperity and joy that emanates from your being and brings happiness to all who surround you.

[Mike AI]

Far-L keep usw in the loop.... this is something I would love to keep an eye on.

So may people are gettoing lawyers trying to become rich off of other peoples hard work. It infuriates me... One thing Bush can do is get some Tort reform going and take out the huge profit motive of these type of suits!!!

[Far-L]

MikeAI: Thanks, I will do that. Your feedback is always greatly appreciated.

Far-L... I just sent you an email using the Oprano email function. I hope it gets thru to you. If not, please email me at admin at basisia.com

[Mike AI]

Far-L we might want to talk this week... I get back to the office and guess what Stan hands me? Yep.... seems acacia wants 15% of my business! hahaha

I have something for them....

[Hooper]

Far-L.. the best defense is a strong offense.

You should be less concerned with "defending" yourself.. and more concerned with counter suing these guys.

First thing that we do every time we get sued? Counter sue the fuckers and flood them with so many complaints that they end up paying US and apologizing.

Kinda like they say. if you go to prison.. dont bend over and take it.. find a big tough guy and try to kick his ass.

jmho of course ;-)

p.s... the one thing i have learned is that listening to your lawyers is not the smart thing to do. chances are that you are smarter than them and understand the issues better than them. dont be afraid to make a decision.. and dont forget that your lawyers work for you.. they are there to do your bidding.

[Diamond Jim]

I gotta agree with Hoop on that strategy....talked a little with JMM this afternoon and I think we all can have some fun with Acacia... h34r:

More to come...

If anyone is doing anything about this situation, let's make it a team effort. It doesn't make sense to work it out alone. If anyone is looking to partner up against this company and share resources, please contact me at admin at basisia.com. Mike is right, we need to take the offensive in this matter. Sitting around and waiting for something to happen or ignoring it will just make it worse. These acacia assholes have really pissed me off and I'm not going to put up with the extortion.

I am new to the business and certainly didn't count on this patent thing. My cousin is a patent lawyer in NY and took a quick look for me. He thinks these patents may be a REAL PROBLEM! The have an early filing date and are broad. He spent about 5 hours which at $400/hour would have cost me $2000!

According to him, he would have to spend 20 to 30 hours to get more info. He says the average patent case can cost $2 million to go to trial. If we lose, we may have to pay triple damages since we have been put on notice.

For me, it makes more sense to pay these MF's and move on. Hope his helps.

[Edd]

Originally posted by Chip@Nov 20 2002, 10:55 AM
I am new to the business and certainly didn't count on this patent thing. My cousin is a patent lawyer in NY and took a quick look for me. He thinks these patents may be a REAL PROBLEM! The have an early filing date and are broad. He spent about 5 hours which at $400/hour would have cost me $2000!

According to him, he would have to spend 20 to 30 hours to get more info. He says the average patent case can cost $2 million to go to trial. If we lose, we may have to pay triple damages since we have been put on notice.

For me, it makes more sense to pay these MF's and move on. Hope his helps.

And that's the SCAM, Chip - because Patent Law IS so expensive, often times its cheaper and easier for people to just pay the fee and move on... People hardly ever fight it because of the money it would cost to take it to trial. These shitheels are COUNTING on it most times - they KNOW it will cost a fortune for anyone to take them to court - thats the WHOLE reason why they did this! They just sit back and get rich for doing NOTHING other than threatening to take you to court!

Its a scam, even if it is veiled with "law"... and these douchebags should have their gonads stomped to jelly. :grrr: F.U.C.K.T.H.E.M.

[susanna]

Heh Gang...

I am also in posession of the famed "info package" from acacia media.

Had to laugh at a small coincidence that the one person that posted that we better jump on this band wagon was nicked named "chip" and if you go look here

http://www.acaciaresearch.com/index_compan...anyprofile.html

thier director and president also has the nick name chip.

Such a small world isn't it? LMAO

Well it does look like they are starting at the bottom and working up... get things passed merely on the bases of winning against people who cannot afford the big lawyers or get us little guys to pay so that they can afford to fight the big guys. In either way its not their own money they are putting out.

Since I am sure that Chip (or is it Skip?) is reading this link... I just need to know the date to pull the videos off my site (videos I paid for to boot) and he can move onto the next guy.

Somehow I think maybe our kneeling before the Visa gods has given Chip a bit of confidence we would do it for him too.



Last edited by susanna at Nov 27 2002, 10:39 AM

[gigi]

check this out:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/conte...53/b3764074.htm

This part is most intriguing:

Acacia's CombiMatrix unit is its crown jewel, says Manning. It makes customized biochips used, among others things, in detecting bio-warfare agents such as bacillus spores--similar to anthrax. Acacia Chairman and CEO Paul Ryan says the biochips are being developed through grants from the Defense Dept. to produce an ultrasensitive handheld system for detecting chemical-warfare agents. CombiMatrix has linked up with Roche, a major maker of diagnostic products, to develop genetic-testing tools for major diseases.

That article is almost a year old....




Last edited by gigi at Nov 29 2002, 08:54 PM

[Monk]

http://www.extremetech.com/print_article/0...,a=34898,00.asp
Porn Kings Aflame Over Multimedia Patents


Talks more about the adult industry's response towards the middle and bottom of the article