Acacia Media
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2003 9:27 pm
NIkki from Real Wild Content reports on the Acacia Media Video Transmission Litigation Situation.
"An invitation to litigation" is what a lawyer participating in the Holio sponsored meeting called the recent attacks by Acacia Media on our industry. Obviously so, considering 27 companies have already been filed suit against by Acacia Media. Among these 27 are some of the best known names in our industry.
If you haven't taken seriously the recent buzz over Acacia Media, maybe now is the time to do so. Acacia Media is a publicly traded company, currently selling at $4.50 per share. Their main theme in business seems to be "buy existing patents and then sue people". Perhaps not the most honest in business plans, but then they're probably claiming the same of our industry. The problem with this whole issue is that these patents were issued. How valid they are is now up to us, the defendants, to prove.
If you're not at all familiar with Acacia Media, here is the summary: They have instigated a campaign against the adult industry. They own patents, very broad patents, that they claim cover the transmission of video. According to Acacia, no matter what software you use, no matter how you stream your video, no matter how it is stored, the sheer fact that there is video that can be played on demand violates their patents.
Acacia Media is best known for its successful litigation for patent infringement covering the "V-Chip" technology. This patent expires in July 2003, so it would seem Acacia is desperate for a new revenue stream. It would also seem they are gambling upon the adult industry, with not much support from the mainstream society, being an easy target with which to boost its sagging revenue.
The meeting to address this problem was organized by Holio.net, and held in their LA offices. There were many people in attendance, and many more were able to listen in on a conference call. I was one of those listening in, and unfortunately some of the conversation was hard to hear, but I did get most of the pertinent information.
"My guess is that Acacia did not expect this industry to be as unified as it is," was one flattering quote I snatched from this conference call, and "You are 20 steps ahead by being able to come together so quickly and take action to put together a united defense," was another.
There was a lot of talk about where to go from here, and because the connection was not set up to be secure at this time, all talks of strategy were held off for a later date. Some good advice was to keep discussions in public forums to a minimum.
If you have received any communication from Acacia Media, please send me an email (nikki@realwildcontent.com) to find out how you can come on board to help fight this thing together, like the community we all are. I will be more than happy to pass your information on to the legal team so they can keep you up to date on the defense.
For more information, check out www.youmaybenext.com, which discusses another legal issue of this type.