Yes we know. We got all the companies that settled before us names on our package.

We asked them to not use our names. But they wouldnt even budge on that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Squirtit,

Trust me...nothing could have been done. They can use everyones name who has settled. There is no legal way to stop them from using our name. We've looked into it. They are simply using the largest names to get the most impact.

If it has been posted...I have overlooked it...

1. Who specifically is challenging the patent?

2. What law firm is representing them?

3. Is the case currently being presented in Court?

4. If so what court...and what presiding judge?

5. If not when is a court date scheduled...before what court?

And question number 6.

Am I assuming correctly that at this point...a patent has been legally granted to Acacia...thus they currently hold what is presumed to be...under law...a legitmate patent?

They bought the patent from someone else in order to sue people and profit from it. What rock have you been hiding under that you've missed all the answers to those questions? They've been answered in at least 60 different threads in the last month that I can think of.

Unfortunately for Acacia, more and more prior art is popping up every day, and hopes are that it will render the patent invalid. However, until such a time, people are indeed responsible to acacia for percieved infringements of their patents.

Hey, mighty flech xxx,

Since you cannot name the sponsor but allude to them. Name them! Or go make up something like I killed a cat.

Once again, a piece of mail is a joke. Have fun thinking you have 30 days to respond.

Apparently a big rock.

Feel free to answer the questions.

Well how about you use the search feature and look for yourself? I have not had an acacia package delivered, in fact I am in a country in which their patents are invalid. My interest is with regards to my employer and some others that may have issues with them, pretty much. There are a lot of people who have posted the information you are looking for, however, and it's well worth looking into if you have ANY video, because you may well be next.

1. Eleven companies are determined to go to court, and I know others are considering it as well, and after today's statements to their shareholders... I can only imagine how quickly the mainstream is going to take this more seriously...

2. www.fr.com

3. The calendar has yet to be set.

4. In Orange County California, and I cannot remember the Judge's name at this hour of the evening...

5. I think answers three and four answer this question already...

1) Listed that Far-L has posted in another thread:

Video Secrets
Homegrown Video
Lightspeed
ARS
Top Bucks
Gamelink
Ademia
AEBN
Audio Communications


2) http://www.fr.com/


3) Waiting on court date


4) in california, I don't know the name


5) 9th circuit (?) Federal court




Fight the Patent!

(we posted at the same time!)

The legitamacy of a patent can only be validated in a court of law.

The USPTO does its best at the time to do research any prior art. The USPTO and Patent Law has its provisions that allow for patents to be invalidated should prior art be found, but usually comes out in a court of law over a patent infringement claim.

To prove to you that just because a patent has been issued, doesn't mean it is the definitive word, On april 9, 2002, the USPTO issued patent #6,368,227 with the title of "Method of swinging on a swing"

The patent is at: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-P...S=PN/6,368,227


A father was trying to teach his son about the patent process and patented the process of swinging sideways on a swing.... the patent got approved. The patent was invalidated once the media got ahold of the story and the USPTO yanked the patent themselves.

There are websites dedicated to silly/absurd patents that were granted.

In looking at the way the patent reads and what Acacia is INTERPRETING the patent to mean, are two entirely different things.

Unfortunately, they can use Patent and Civil law to try to "convince" people that their patent infringement claims are legit.

It is "guilty until proven innocent" in this case.



Fight the Patent!

Do you know what is the longest period of time that it has taken for a resoultion of a patent case? I do not...but unless I am mistaken one case (I believe it involved Howard Huges and may or may not have been a patent case...though I believe that it was) lasted around 20 years.

Unfortunately Acacia wants this done a lot more quickly than that.. their profits depend on it.

I am not familar with the HH story (nor have my Guinness Book of World Records handy), but it could have that twist that after 20 years of battling, he wins the patent case, then the next day, the 20 year patent time limit expired.

SightSound, who has a patent for the selling of digital audio and video clips on a website has been going on for years.


Fight the Patent!

Because the longer it takes to invalidate the patent, the more webmasters/companies etc will be strongarmed into signing licenses with them and paying them an arm and a leg. Do you honestly think if the patent is invalidated Acacia will just give all thatmoney back?

Why do you say unfortunately? I would think that the longer a decision on the legitimacy of the patent is postponed the better it is for them...because until a decision on the legitimacy is made they hold a legal patent and companies must comply or apparently pay consequences/be shut down.

Yes, this is true..... Acacia had a nice $27M run until the verdict in the Sony case ended.



Fight the Patent!

I just wonder how long it will be before someone starts taking sniper shots and Acacia execs??? It can only be a matter of time before they push someone over the edge and they go postal on their ass!



"O"

"Hold on a minute...I'm reloading!"

Edit: Doh I'm tired.. yep

Isn't that what I said? It is to the benefit of Acacia to drag out any challenge to the legitimacy of their patent...is it not?

Are you saying that the Sony Case is important to the current matter...or just that Acacia may not be in a financial position to sustain a long court battle over the legitimacy of their patent?

If the later is the case...do you think that they are in a position to get new funding/backers?

If you do not think they can get new funding/backers what do you base your thinking on?

FightThePatent

Still with us?

I've read before that the average patent dispute case lasts for 2 years.

First off, Matrix when originally serverd by Acacia we spent $25,000 to fight them. Why? Because they wanted webmaster information. No other reason. Who would bite the hand that feeds them? We make most of our income from still images and very little off video when you line up the numbers. There are only two reasons we settled:
1. We did not have to give any information on webmasters.
2. After getting screwed by Babenet we could no longer afford to continue putting money for our defence.

It was by theory so you know, I never pointed to Matrix ;)

I never thought it was Matrix actually, but one must consider it's possibility.

But glad you guys didn't that's good to know.

As many here have said, a business choice to settle and handing over info are two completely different things.

:thumbsup

thats a fine email there

however, i like the 'congrats, and die in a fire' part
great work ;)

Hmmmmmm someone gets it.

Far-L: in an attempt to prove "prior art", I would suggest that your lawyers very soon issue a request for Steve Jobs and others from Apple to appear before the court and give a long winded discussion of the creation of Quicktime, and other audio / video tools.

Getting a big name company involved would be a big step in this process.

I would also ask that the original creators and writers of the patent be deposed to get the process, and actions, and the EXACT intent of the process they created.

Also, I would suggest a crank up in the PR campaign. This whole thing works only because Acacia is the only one talking to the public. The group going to court shoudl be releasing information and contacting the media, as well as contacting companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Real, and other players in the audio / video business that could adversely be affected by a company saying "you can't have video of any sort of the net without a license". This needs to go public, and the big guys need to be put into the spot of having to react.

Press releases regarding this court case shoudl be issued and made available on the newswires, and sent to all business reporting services, so that people can make a more informed decision based on the current legal climate for this company.

You may also want to get ahold of AOL TW, which through AOl and CNN are both large distributors of streaming material, and TW is a large cable operator. They need to be made aware of what is coming down the pipe and the affects of a loss by the adult website community could mean for their business bottom lines. 2% gross of aol income monthly ain't chicken feed, now is it? As you have said, the gold at the end of the rainbow is a chunk of the VOD business... and these companies are the ones that will really lose if the adult industry group fails. All of our incime together ain't nothing compared to the big prize.

Finally, I would contact the SEC and ask them to look into the buying and selling of Acacia shares, to see if anyone has been profitting unfairly from this run-up in price, by somehow buying before major announcements. I am not an expert, but the volume on this stock is not very constant, and could show some odd actions.


Alex

In Acacia's 3Q call yesterday, the CEO or President said that they have $1M said aside for patent litigation.

An average patent infringement case from what i have heard, can run around $1.5M

The impending court cases with the 11 defendants could easily drain through their lawsuit stash.

But, they expect better 4Q revenue, so their warchest can be restocked with all those that settled in 3Q.

If Acacia is showing a revenue stream through licenses and they start to run out money, they do have the options of going to banks to get loans or selll more stock to keep them going.

A friend of mine did a quick analysis on their financial statements an besides saying it was a mess, he said it looks like they structured the arrangement of their companies to dump the expenses and overhead costs into ACTG, knowing that ACTG could end up failing, protecting the rest of the portfolio.

But then again, They introduced their updated business plan to have businesses with patents loan them to them, and allow them to acquire license fees and then split the bounty with the company.


Fight the Patent!

Yup and SightSound vs. CDNOW/BMG is going on its 3rd year i believe.....

SightSound has a patent for basically selling digital audio or video from a website. I haven't dived into the case, namely because the lead attorney has been too busy to set aside time to review what kind of prior they have, and what I have already found.

It is shame, i am doing my efforts for free to help those knock down these patent abuse claims, and with their case going in the 3rd year, it';s very clear that they need better prior art.



Fight the Patent!

Was this before the Defense Fund was formed by companies banding together to pool their financial resources?

The buy-in is 35K that would have gotten you legal coverage.

I completely understand your business decision... that 25K you spent in legal fees, you don't get back..and as insult-to-injury, you have to pay them a yearly license fee.

The message here is for those looking to fight, it does cost money to do so.

In looking at their Webmaster License Agreement:
http://www.acaciatechnologies.com/pr...eAgreement.pdf


If you project to make 100K to 150K in a year, you would owe them an initial fee of $5,000.

Then an additional royalty is charged if your Gross Sales was higher than projected.. so let's things were going good and you made an extra $50K, then you owe them an additional $4,050


I can't find the reference to 2% of GROSS (if anyone has, please post), but the point is telling them you estimate $100K/year and then actually making $150K/year means you owe them a total of about $10K.


Spike and Far-L along with the other defendants have a Defense Fund that has a buy-in of 35K. Far-L said that they are working on a plan that maybe people can pay a few thousand a month (ie $2K)...

So if you want to contribute to the Defense Fund, figure out the logistics with Far-L by calling him at 206-852-5566 (serious inquiries only).

Look at their strategy.. if 100,000 websites paid the minimum royalty (since they were smaller sites, making less than 100K/year) of $1,500/year that equates to $150M/year!

How's that for a business model? No Product, No customers, No Customer Service, no Headaches.

Before you go jumping on their bandwagon, their patent is absurd and will get invalidated..that's my opinion based upon my research.




Fight the Patent!

Everything he said :thumbsup


I have sent FAX and emails to Steve Jobs.... i believe that either him or others are aware of the situation, had 4 different apple.com IP hit my site shortly after the campaign, but no word yet.



Fight the Patent!

I too got a letter from acacia but I'm confused on it, and I guess so was "stephanie" who works there.

I have no video on my site, just voice wavs. So, I asked about their licensing fee and she said it was based on what you gross annually. However I told her that I don't make any money on the audio clips that we are a phone sex company...her response was, "Well you make money on the phone sex right"?

Is she fucking insane?!?!? WHYYY on earth should they profit from my phone sex company which has nothing to do with their "patent". She could not answer that question and said the "guys" are out of town and will call me on Monday.

I also had no URL's listed and the only company I deal with on the letter is Matrix content who infact DO call me by my work name and use my real last name when sending e-mails and DO have my home address, this is not listed in my whois database information, so they HAD to get it from someone and I am guessing it was them.

Is webcam considered streaming video? I think it is but I'm not sure. Not that we use them, but I am curious.

I've been saying all along.

THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO SHOULD BE GOING TO BAT FOR US

Look at the people in the membership list.

Not saying it was Matrix but...

Basically anyone can say anything- how do you prove them wrong? It is "confidential info" as per the settlement agreements being made with Acacia.

I seen "Players" deny things and swear up and down that they innocent as charged, but I know they were lying.

It happens every day in this industry.

:mad:

I recieved this letter too, complete with high bond glossy prints of the news.com articles of them fucking over other websites. OH I"M SHAKING NOW!

I don't stream video, never have never will. They can kiss my fat white ass.

Can we say SPAM.

I hope people are not stupid enough to fall for this crap.

I'd rather pull down all my sites and go out of bussiness then pay these theives one cents.

Last night was the first I've heard of Acacia asking companies that settle for webmaster information.

Perhaps smaller companies have given this information. The ammount we settled for must have been enough for them, not even a word about asking for affiliate info.

But Matrix was asked? Sounds like they are preying on the weak hands to get this info.

Who are the weak hands?

Or who dont care if they give it away?

What company out there that settled doesnt care or are to financially weak to pay what acacia wants?

This is the company that gave the affiliate info away.

There are many many individual webmasters getting this package now.

I now beleive that their definately is a company that gave affiliatee info away.

I've talked to Hooper who has a very good guess with proof as to which company it is.

Hooper you going to share it on Netpond like you said?

Cause from what you told me last night, Its pretty undeniable proof who it is.

People have been emailing their thoughts and believe it or not.

Some are pointing to matrix.

Im kinda just staying out until some kind of real proof is out there.

but how do you show REAL proof that Matrix or any other company is THE ONLY company that could have.

its up in the air and thats the problem. there really isnt any proof the masses would accept.

I could say all day when I registered for matrix or oxcash I used 'fletchox' or 'fletchmatrix' or whatever, no one would believe it anyway. but if you get a package addressed to 'fletchmatrix' who would you suuspect be?

Its up to individuals who recived these scare packages to decide on their own.

They will never win in court on this point.

If 50% of your income is from something totally unrelated to video, there is no judge or jury in the world that will give them a percentage of the total gross of your company.

What if Microsoft was sued and lost, do you think that Microsoft would have to pay 8% of their gross income to anyone, ever?

Of course not.

The only thing Acacia can hope to win, and most people don't think they will win anything, is a percentage of the income you generate from using video.

They will not get a percentage of your income that has nothing to do with their bad patent.

This is another reason they should be sued for abusive use of the U.S. legal system.

webmaster emails are bought and sold every day. almost anyone could have given those bastards that info.

this bothers me a lot:

"And then today, they announced on their 3Q call, that they want companies who have patents to loan them to them, that they would use their "resources" to get license money and share the bounty with other companies." -FTP

I have my guesses now.

Its definately companies that are tight on cash or that dont give a fuck anymore cause they are not in business now.

Its pretty obvious if you ask me.

emails are one thing.

home addresses are another.

true dat. just trying to keep it objective :winkwink:

Well, I just spoke with Norman at Matrix and while I don't THINK he gave out my information, I KNOW it came from his company...or someone somehow got their information...I am NOT saying they gave it voluntarily.

This is the ONLY company who has the information they have on me, there is NO possible way acacia could have gotten this same information from another source.

What about people who left Matrix some time ago? How old is the info they have? For example, if someone here has changed their address they had on file at Matrix recently, did they get mail to the new address or old address?

I can't speak for everyone else...all I am saying is in MY case I know my information got to acacia somehow through matrix or someone who is doing matrix bad..or whatever, but my information is the information that Matrix has, and the ONLY company who has THAT information.

youre not the only one to tell me the EXACT thing.

when I hinted towards oxcash, people emailed me and said no, that they had proof if was matrix.

they said they were 100% because it had to do with very unique identifiers including corp names etc. people use different info to register for programs and another to buy content i guess.

i forgot i even HAD a matrix login, ive never bought content from them.

i logged in after being urged to by another and guess what, my info matched exactly, and i had forgotten i even had a matrix account.

*shrug*

either way, if its their info its their JOB to keep it confidentional isnt it?
wtf?...we cant all go aorund saying someone stole it or blah blah blah.
Someone has to be responsible on behalf of these companies

:2 cents: