SolarGodPower

This post is for the lurkers who might feel intimidated by all of the noise, dust and confusion related to the pending Acacia showdown. Especially for those who, like myself, received the LAST NOTICE letter from Acacia in mid-October, offering a sweetheart deal should you decide to "settle" with them before November 30 (so you can celebrate your holidays with peace of mind, etc.) See my original post here.

Since that post I've done a lot of research, made a shitload of phone calls, talked to lots of big players in the biz that are also friends, and generally abandoned the normal operation of my sites to focus on this one fucking issue so I could start taking some action -- instead of just checking GFY and YNOT for news everyday, with crossed-fingers, hoping to read that, finally, the case had been thrown out by the courts -- letting me get back to my day to day life, putting the worry behind me.

That later scenario doesn't seem to be coming anytime soon. And in the interim there are still those people like Far-L from Homegrown, the folks with IMPA and Brandon from Fight the Patent who are putting their asses on the line, going public, spending their time and money, shifting their focus from THEIR business (i.e. THEIR livelihood) and families, in an effort to get the neighborhood bully out of our turf, so everyone can go back to playing in their sandbox and having a good time manipulating porn pixels.

I think the consensus thought in our industry has been (and I'm guilty of this too -- or was) that the "big players" are going to take this fight on while the smaller players (that would be most of you -- and me -- reading this post) sit back and wait. Well, what I've found out over the last couple of weeks (and I'm not talking about the Hustler and Vivids out there, who weren't even that vested to this medium i.e. the internet) is that those big players AREN'T taking on the fight. Every one of them that I contacted have (quietly, very quietly) signed the licensing contracts with Acacia -- essentially building Acacia's war chest to go after folks like you and me. Will they come after us? Is it all a big bluff? Will it all fall apart down the pike? Who knows?...call Miss Cleo! As Spike's post here points out, it LOOKS like a stall set in place to keep slurping up the money from sweetheart deals from all that "low hanging fruit" from the biz's fatter trees, i.e. those bigger players. But then again...

So, what can we REALLY do, instead of just reading the various posts here everyday? It depends on how "out" you wanna get. If you are completely committed to staying under a rock, and I can totally understand why, one of the easiest, silent, pro-active things you can do is support Homegrown. As Malakajoe wrote not too long ago:

This is a perfect indirect strategy. If you can't do anything else, then do that. Repeat: IF YOU CAN'T DONATE, PROMOTE! Do it now, here's Homegrown's reseller program -- or fuck the reseller thing and just put up one of their direct links and banners.

Some of us CAN donate (I just pledged $1000.00 bucks to Brandon's Fight The Patent) and I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do with the monies I've started to earmark for Acacia -- give it to my attorney? or start monthly infusions to the Homegrown defense fund? or pay the goddamned lisc. (rape) fee? I'm weighing all of that still. But I did pledge, and I did front-page a Homegrown banner -- and you can do that too. Even if it's only a 25.00 buck pledge, that's what?, a supply of lube for month? And you won't even be called on for it until Brandon meets his goal, so you've got some time to budget, right?

Speaking of Brandon, I spoke with him for over an hour today, and was floored by his savvy and forward-looking stance. The guy has got it going on! I was impressed. If we think Acacia is the only bully that's going to have tromped through our park with a big cudgel, we're DELUDED, majorily fucking deluded. The facts are all out there -- read the data on Fight The Patent's website , there's bigger, meaner, openly ANTI-PORN patent holders just waiting to come in swinging. So FIGHT THE FUCKING PATENT. Go over and fucking pledge. Think of it as purchasing insurance -- that's a simple enough analogy to grock.

My last thought here: someone needs to clarify for everyone DISTINCTLY the differences between: Homegrown's defense fund (and how to help with it) and their aims, Stop the Patent and their drive and IMPA and what they are about. I think folks might be confused with the different organizations. Less confusion means more direct action. And direct action (ie. not lurking and waiting) is what it's come down to.

Rock on.