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From today's posting from my website:

December 7th, a day that will live in infamy.. for rememberance of Perl Harbor, as well as for the Markman Order that was released yesterday. You can view it here. (link to the markman order is on my website)

For those that want the condensed version and run through my patent-pending patenese translator:

The court ruled back in July 12, 2004 Markman, the term "sequence encoder" that is used in Claims1 (the most important #),7,17,18,32,33 of the '7-2 patent to be indefinite.. meaning it can't be define and Acacia is making up what they want it to mean.

Also back in July 12, the term "identification encoder" in claims 1,5,6,17,19,27,31 were also ruled indefinite.

In the recent testimony, Mr Weiss, expert witness for Acacia, had his own testimony quoted in the Markman Order that was used against Acacia.

Replayed for your own amusement:

..with respect to whether the term "sequence encoder" had an ordinary and customary meaning to one skilled in system design in the television broadcasting industry, Mr Weiss testified:



Q: In 1991, did the term "sequence encoder" have an ordinary meaning to one of ordinary skill in the art?

A: No

(slam #1)

Q: In 1991, would the term "sequence encoder" have been a term of art to one of ordinary skill in the art?

A: No

(slam #2)

Q: Are you aware of any dictionary in 1991 where it would have defined the term "sequence encoder" ?

A: No

(slam #3)

Editorial note, the (slam) comments were added in by me, and were not part of the official transcript

From the conclusion, "The Court concludes that the claim term "identification encoder" is indefinite and renders independant claims 1,17 and 27 of the '702 patent invalid. The Court also reserves for later proceedsing whether the invalidty of the independent claims affect the validity of claims which depend from them."

Meaning that what Acacia started out dreaming 3 years ago that this was the "Perfect Patent" and unleashed their marketing storm, is being whittled away.

Acacia spinners will say that you only need 1 claim for an infringement case.. .that may be true from an academic sense, but I believe in practice, it's buh-bye when you get your made-up believed terms shot down by the court and by your own expert witness.

Especially when Claim #1 is being ripped apart, which is the foundation of all the other claims. And those other DMT related patents... all based on the first patent, so I expect there to be a domino effect.

Acacia is busier than ever with its new patents and going about the marketing in the same way... companies are getting leary of their efforts as they are seeing that this company is having a bad track record of not understanding patents, or just looking to use the presumption of validty to make a buck.



The court will hear more discussions on Feb 24, 2006.


Fight the Patent!

just put up article by Connor at YNOT:
http://www.ynot.com/modules.php?op=m...le &sid=10009



Fight the link challenged!

AP News:


Acacia Shares Down on Patent Ruling
Thursday December 8, 12:50 pm ET
Licensed Technology Developer Acacia Sees Shares Drop by 15 Percent After Patent Ruling

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Acacia Research Corp., a developer of licensed technologies, said on Thursday the District Court for the Northern District of California found that out of 22 terms from subsidiary Acacia Media Technology Corp. DMT patents, three were found indefinite in a patent infringement case it filed against 25 cable companies, 2 satellite companies, and 18 Internet companies.

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The suit, filed on Feb. 14, 2003, initially only named Internet companies, and cable and satellite companies were named in the suit later.

Shares of Acacia, which have traded between $4.24 and $7.83 over the last year, were down 98 cents in midday trading, or 12.5 percent, to $6.85 on the Nasdaq, and earlier traded as low as $6.45.

The company said the indefinite terms could invalidate one of Acacia's five DMT patents. The court invited the parties to submit additional terms for construction, to be heard at a hearing on Feb. 24. Acacia said it expects to submit additional terms, and expects to appeal the Court's decision on two of the three indefinite terms to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

"We're in the second inning of a nine inning game, and it could go to extra innings," Robert Berman, general counsel and chief operating officer said. "We're certainly still bullish about our DMT portfolio, as well as our other 33 patent portfolios."

Acacia controls 34 patent portfolios, including over 130 patents, and holds 307 licenses for its DMT, or digital media transmission, technology with companies that provide services such as online entertainment, movies, music, news, sports or hotel on-demand television services.



Fight the Copy/Paste!

Hey thanks for the news you do a great job covering it. I appreciate your work.

I appreciate the members of the defense group who have collectively put in $2M to stand up and fight... and will win.


Fight the licensing scams!

bump


Fight the bump!

Thanks for the info, I am glad they are finally going down. :)

Maybe we need to sue Acacia back now to get our legal expenses back? I've been bled dry fighting this one

Soooo... will they make up the slack extorting "technology and methods for redirecting users to a login page when accessing the Internet"? :upsidedow

Thanks for the update. Bump for importance.

Do you have a list of these companies? Which ones gave and which ones settled?

I am sure my list is out of date, but here are the members of the defense group:

Video Secrets
Homegrown Video
Lightspeed
ARS
Gamelink
Ademia
AEBN
Audio Communications

National A-1 Advert =
singles.com, hotmovies.com , girls.com , guys.com , ladies.com, slaves.com , celebrities.com, cash.com

Club Jenna


Other Companies fighting:

Silver Cash
Max Cash
adult.com


the list is actually much longer, but I can't find my complete copy that i posted before.


Fight the missing!

that would certainly take more money.. but i think there are some good grounds for that.. and be able to re-coup money.. they had alot of very questionable marketing tactics that the FTC and SEC should also be looking into.

but, the case isn't over yet, and it will already drag out until February, and then some more before Summary Judgement.. and then Acacia already stated in their spin/PR they are ready to appeal.

Fortunately, the cable companies are handling most of the finances now, but the companies in the defense group like Lightspeed have spent around $2M on defense these last 3 years.

I hope webmasters will show their appreciation in supporting those programs.

Acacia's MINIMUM pricing was $1,500 per year, and they raise rates each year.... so the defendants didn't step in, Acacia would be rolling through the biz picking people off one by one... so look at how much money you have said by them swinging at bat.... support their programs,, send them lots of joins in order to recoup what they have offered to help all webmasters out in this fight.


Fight the bloodsuckers!

bump

Fight the is this thing still going on!

I love the Berman spin doctoring... and I love that all the folks who licensed are still going to be paying Acacia long after we get out on non-infringement.

Too bad for the "low hanging fruit" :upsidedow

kill em all guys!!! !! !

Great work on this shit, that's for damn sure. Someone should go on the offensive with these guys and coutersue them.

I think that of you were to try and sue for money back, and it having to go before the sec etc. about the marketing, it may back fire, due to it being a government agency. I would take the win we can get, and then use the loss as a write off.

Let's never forget the licencees who paid Acacia money to screw the rest of us.

Can't be said too often. I'm helping some of the fighters.

am i missing something what government agency are you talking about