How webmasters can take a stand against Acacia

[FightThePatent]

Defense Fund:

IMPA has pulled together the current defendants to share a common pool of money to pay for attorney expenses. The buy-in is a few thousand a month. Since there are like 7 (?) defendants, each one gets a chance at bat. The money put in goes towards dealing with your individual correspondance with Acacia and the Defense Team, as well as money to fund the first people's whack at bat. Should the first batter strike out, there is a second batter, and so on. I feel that the Defense Team has a solid case against the patent claims. People like me and all the great volunteer searches are still looking, there is always a need for that gold nugget in the pile of rubble.

If you have been served with the last notice... you have the following choices:

1) hide out (especially if they addressed you to a PO box, or some odd mailing address that clearly shows they didn't do their research)

2) pay the license - you have until Nov. 30th.. plenty of time to see what happens in the next couple of weeks, time to save up money, etc.

3) contribute a few thousand a month to the Defense Fund. If you make over 100K per year, your minimum license fee is $6,000 due up front, with additional percentages, etc. Pay a few thousand a month into the Defense Fund to get yourself covered by the Defense Team attornies as well as helping to fund the peope who are already ahead of you.

Contact: spike -at- homegrownvideo.com


IMPA:

IMPA is an association that is a watchdog for all kinds of issues that pertain to webmasters. Currently, IMPA is focused on patents, best practices (COPA, 2257), and the trademarking of the term "virtual sex".

IMPA has a membership fee (http://www.impai.org/join.html)..most would fit in at the $100/year. IMPA membership money goes towards hiring attornies and funding activities to spotlight and target issues that affect webmasters.


Fight The Patent Foundation ("FTPF"):

FTPF will be a non-profit (501c3) organization that focuses only on patents. It will operate like the ACLU, to provide companies faced with a patent abuse claim with defense attorneys, as well as expert witnesses and prior art. FTPF's charter is to use the 'pay it forward' concept to motiviate expert witnesses to come forward to provide testimony, critical to support the prior art finds. FTPF will also use a grassroots approach to finding prior art by opening up a system where people can submit prior art leads, and get rated on their finds to earn rewards.

FTPF is currently looking for 2,500 webmasters to pledge $100 each. No money is collected until the pledge total reaches over $250,000.

More info at http://www.FightThePatent.com/go

Acacia is just the first company to be wield patents to the adult industry. There are many more companies with audio/video patents, as well as other patents that will affect this industry. Patent holders with Acacia-like business plans could come from WITHIN the industry.

This is the new business model that some feel is a great way to make money, without ever making a product, without delivering a service, and without developing a company.

The big players have settled....proving that there is no community? I would disagree...and I hope that the rest of the webmasters who haven't settled can band together to show community.

If you have money and want to fight, i suggest donating to the Defense Fund so you can get yourself legal protection.

For others with not as deep pockets, join IMPA and pledge to FTPF. It's a small contribution, but one that becomes a bigger movement when your fellow webmasters join in as well.


-brandon

Fight the Patent!

[Mike AI]

I saw your other thread about donating money for the fund. You can put Oprano down for $250. This is a fight we think is very important for our community.

[FightThePatent]

Originally posted by Mike AI@Oct 20 2003, 05:14 PM
I saw your other thread about donating money for the fund. You can put Oprano down for $250. This is a fight we think is very important for our community.

Thanks so much!

Please use http://www.FightThePatent.com/go to get entered into the system.

No money to be accepted at this time, only pledges til the goal has been reached.


Fight the Patent!

[Mike AI]

Done!

[slavdogg]

why are you taking Pledges and not donations ?

[FightThePatent]

Originally posted by slavdogg@Oct 21 2003, 01:27 AM
why are you taking Pledges and not donations ?

I learned from my own failed dot-com, that taking in investor money as you go, is not a good idea... should raise the amount that you think you need (double it), then collect the money, and then execute on a planned budget.

I want to also have a large consensus of webmasters.. afterall, this organization is to help protect webmasters right to do business, and if a large group don't want to support, then what am i fighting for?

Helping to defend people who are faced with patent issues costs money, as well as money to pay for finding prior art, etc.

The 250K raised from adult webmasters will go into the war chest.

I will then go to mainstream to the big companies, to raise more donations (larger amounts), to show that i have a starting decent sized warchest, but need more to be able to do more.

I have been doing all of this prior art searching and email/posts on a full time basis. I am not being compensated for my efforts, and I want to show that I am willing to push hard to fight against patent abuse..and only when the goal has been reached, will I accept any money.

Right now, it's just a pledge of $100 (or more if you can pledge more) to show your support that you believe in the vision of Fight the Patent Foundation.

More info on FTPF at: http://www.FightThePatent.com/go

With Mike AI's pledge, Trev's, and a couple others, the total is up to $31,300 as of this post. The pledge goal is $250,000. A long way off, but so many more webmasters still don't know or don't care about the issues.

Please give them a nudge to wake up.


Fight the Patent!

[FightThePatent]

For those that have affiliate programs or content producers that have webmaster email lists, you can help to spread the word.

If you could send the message below to your email list, maybe more webmasters will come forward to pledge and to take a stand.

So many people have settled, more than you realize... For those that did settle, i ask you to consider making "anonymous" or private pledges.

Acacia is just one company, there are many more patent abuse cases coming.

Thanks in advance to those who forward this message on to their email list:

------------------- cut here ----------------------------------



For those that haven't been following the threads and news about Acacia, let me briefly bring you up to speed:

Acacia Research (http://www.acaciatechnologies.com) has some patents (http://www.acaciatechnologies.com/patents.htm) that claim essentially to owning the process of downloading audio or video files from a web server.

They sent out "information packets" to many companies, some adult, some to schools and universities.

They are demanding license fees (http://www.acaciatechnologies.com/te...t_adultent.htm) for payment of using their "patent".

Some adult websites have licensed their patent (see Press Releases at http://www.acaciatechnologies.com) while others have joined together to form the IMPA (http://www.impai.org) and to also become defendants in litigation.

FightThePatent.com (http://www.FightThePatent.com) was formed on August 12th as a one-man crusade to bring awareness to these issues and to assist the defendants to find prior art (with no compensation).

Many webmasters jumped into the search for prior art, using this page http://www.FightThePatent.com/v2/Searching.html to help find stuff to look for, and http://www.FightThePatent.com/v2/Squirt.html to see what prior art examples were posted.

FightThePatent.com has now broadened its scope to propose the start of Fight the Patent Foundation ("FTPF")(http://www.FightThePatent.com/go) to help fight against patent abuse.

Learn more about the issues and make your pledge to stop patent abuse cases like Acacia by going to http://www.FightThePatent.com/go


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[Dianna Vesta]

It's a great idea. I'm going to do it. Our sites aren't huge. It the principle that really pisses me off. I truly hate shit like this.

Thanks,
DV

[FightThePatent]

Originally posted by Dianna Vesta@Oct 21 2003, 08:36 AM
It's a great idea. I'm going to do it.

THanks so much! ..... responses and actions like yours helps to answer the debate that i started with the thread: Every webmaster for themselves - FU Community, --prove them wrong--

http://www.oprano.com/msgboard/index.php?a...4b311f75c448f6f


That there is a sense of community, despite being competitors.... if there is no community, then the Adult Industry will be like mainstream, fragmented and easily picked apart. Just look at http://www.YouMayBeNext.com they are trying to band mainstream webmasters together to fight, but there is no community in mainstream...it's just a big black void filled with individul businesses.

Has the adult industry become just a biz?? And patents are just a biz expense to deal with, like a Cost of Goods Sold line item?


Fight the Patent!

[Frank]

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.c...wArticle&id=863

Fascinating article about how a supposedly rock solid patent did not stand the test of time... Yes, I know it's an article about the RIAA, b uit there are certain parallels with Acacia here...

"...In 1903, when Henry Ford launched the Ford Motor Company, his third attempt at making cars, automobiles were high-priced, custom-made playthings for the rich. What’s more, the major manufacturers had figured out a way to keep it that way. They had acquired a strategic property right very much like the recording industry’s copyrights on recorded songs. It was called the Selden Patent and it gave its owners the exclusive right to sell a very basic invention: self-propelled vehicles powered by internal combustion engines. Many people in the car business thought this patent was an outrage – much as some online retailers today are angry that Amazon.com received a patent on its “One-Click” checkout system. But the U.S. Patent Office had issued the Selden Patent and a group of powerful incumbents had purchased it and formed an association to enforce it. Litigation, then as now, was very expensive – especially for start-up companies with limited working capital. Nearly every car company fell into line to pay royalties to the Association for the privilege of making and selling cars."

- Frank



Last edited by Frank at Oct 21 2003, 07:21 PM

[FightThePatent]

Originally posted by Frank@Oct 21 2003, 09:18 AM
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.c...wArticle&id=863

Fascinating article about how a supposedly rock solid patent did not stand the test of time...

You did not read the whole article... the patent DID NOT prevail.

You left out a very relevant part of the article:


People rallied to Ford’s side against the bullies. Editorials weighed in against the industry’s heavy-handed lawsuits, and Ford helped his own case by purchasing litigation insurance for his customers. By the time the patent litigation was over – Ford won on appeal in 1911 when the court ruled that the Selden Patent covered only cars made with a special type of engine nobody was using anymore – Ford was a hero, and the largest car manufacturer in America.

[Dianna Vesta]

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