Acacia Patent Lawsuits
A California tech firm called Acacia claims to own patents covering the transmission of video over the Internet. Over the last few months, Acacia has sent letters to dozens of web porn companies asking for yearly royalty payments. When that didn't work, Acacia filed patent infringement lawsuits against 27 adult firms in federal court. "To Acacia, an IP licensing firm that has seen revenue steadily shrink over the past few quarters, the lawsuits represent a bet-the-company proposition. Acacia executives say they've already drawn up battle plans to go after other industries, including streaming music firms, and have targeted non-Internet businesses such as the on-demand movie services that populate hotel rooms." Long, fascinating article. (Dec 2002)
Acacia has filed patent infringement lawsuits against 39 internet porn companies. "Acacia's licensing drive is one of the most ambitious Internet patent claims to arise in recent years, even as claims to own rights to basic Web technologies such as frames, hyperlinks and e-commerce shopping baskets have become common. Over the past several years, the company acquired a series of patents its attorneys believe cover virtually all on-demand transmissions of compressed audio and video over the Internet, cable TV lines, satellite and wireless services." Earlier article about Acacia's patent shakedown efforts. (Feb 2003)
Forbes looks into the legal battle over patents between Acacia Research and forty internet porn sites. Acacia claims to own patents covering virtually all forms of streaming audio and video. The company has been trying to shakedown porn site owners for a percentage of their business, figuring pornographers would pay up and not make waves, but the plan hasn't worked.
"This is a travesty to the legal system," complains E. Michael "Spike" Goldberg, chief executive officer of the company that owns HomeGrownVideo.com, a site featuring amateurs performing various sex acts in their homes and other creative locales. "They've made a business model out of a loophole," he says of the broadness of Acacia's patent claim. "It's like they're trying to patent breathing."
Goldberg didn't just get mad. He's getting even. Along with an adult streaming-media outfit called Video Secrets and several other sex sites, Goldberg somehow convinced the prestigious intellectual property law firm of Fish & Richardson to take on their case. "We feel strongly about this case. It's not about the business or the content, it's about the patents and the merits of the case," says Fish & Richardson attorney Gregory Madera. "We intend to put on a very vigorous defense."
Acacia management also faces a shareholder revolt led by one Noble Trenham, a "tough-talking, 69-year-old former Navy jet pilot who claims he slipped into Moscow's Red Square in 1960 to lecture the Communists about free enterprise." (Apr 2003)
