Slashdot Mirror

Correct me if i'm wrong but these guys look like epic patent trolls - http://www.acaciaresearch.com/pressreleases.htm

Acacia Research-Acacia Technologies is a segment of Acacia Research Corporation. The Company develops, acquires, licenses and enforces patented technologies. As of December 31, 2006, the Company owned or controlled the rights to 80 portfolios. It helps patent holders protect their patented inventions from unauthorized use and generate revenue from licensing and, if necessary, enforcing their patents. Its clients are primarily individual inventors and small companies with limited resources to deal with unauthorized users but include some large companies wanting to generate revenues from their patented technologies. In August 2007, Acacia Research-Acacia Technologies and CombiMatrix Corporation announced that CombiMatrix Corporation completed the split off from Acacia Research Corporation through the redemption of all outstanding shares of Acacia Research-CombiMatrix common stock.

(A) refrain from using a linux desktop for more than a year, or

(B) do whatever IP InnovatioN LLC or its holding company Acacia Technologies wants them to do. (I'm aware that this lawsuit is only targeted at Red Hat Inc. and Novell Inc., but once IP Innovation LLC has some money why couldn't they repeat the trick to everyone else?).

Oops sorry i'm not allowed to say X-windows anymore, am I? I meant: the X window system(TM).

IIRC the GIF patent lawsuit went in a similar vein: sue just before the patent is going to run out, then the defendants are more likely to give in because the lawsuit might last longer than the remaining lifetime of the patent anyway, and they'll be able to use the technology again soon.

If you live in a country that tolerates software patents, I'd suggest you go do something about it (if you like multiple desktops, that is).

PS: who t.f. is "Technology licensing corporation", anyway?

PPS: I'm surprised Intellectual Ventures didn't bring this lawsuit.

PPPS here's the complaint (from Groklaw, see if you can get it from Pacer if you don't trust that).

And here's Acacia's announcement that IP Innovation LLC is "a wholly owned subsidiary" of theirs, for suing with GUI patents.

Thanks for the link.

I was seeking who were "Parallel Processing Corp." (IP corp or are they actually producing something ?) but having such a generic name doesn't help,
and searching for
"parallel processing corp" / "parallel processing corporation" only gives links related to this lawsuit.

I found the filing, and a short but interesting explanation here

Also when searching for "parallel processing" "newport beach", I found the related announcement of Acacia Technologies.

There also seems to be quite a few events about parallel processing in Newport Beach, like the Seventh International Parallel Processing Symposium (April 13-16, 1993)

So has someone a clue about that "Parallel Processor Corp." ?

There's a company called Acacia that's suing lots of .edu for streaming media patent infringements. Looks like MS has offered a pretty big shield for .edu here - so long as you stream using MS tech, they'll protect you.

That'll be a blow for Acacia - their business plan relies on suing individual institutions in a 'divide and conquor' manner and persuading others to license the right to stream media for a pretty substantial fee. They won't want to take on MS.

As an inventor and founder of a company that holds several patents, in the area of dynamically controlling digital video speed, I have some feelings on both sides of the issue. We have consistently tried to implement our inventions, and in fact had to scramble to get our first app in as we showed an early implementation at a trade show in 1994 to try to drum up interest. We are involved in several "discussions" over products that appeared several years later, and every single one has declared they do not infringe upon our patents. Time will tell... Plus, I am trying to figure out what to do about some much larger companies that have brought out features on products in the last 12-18 months that look like they infringe. My investors want us to do something, and we have to try, but when our pockets are shallow and others are deep, what is the solution?

On the other hand, when companies buy up patents and try to enforce them without ever creating products themselves, that kind of gets my goat. The whole patent thing was started to give little guys like us some sort of defensive weapon when fighting to build a product and a market.

By the way, the company is Acacia , not Acadia , which is the national park in Maine by where I live...

I'm a dumbass, I found them. All the patent numbers are listed here

Here are the 5 US Patent Office Links:
# 5,132,992
# 5,253,275
# 5,550,863
# 6,002,720
# 6,144,702

Acacia Research reported a net loss last year of $29.6 million on sales that plummeted to $882,000, from $24.6 million the previous year. If nothing else, the stock is a screaming bargain. The market values the entire company at just 43% of the $55 million Acacia has on hand in cash and cash equivalents. "All I know is I've been buying a lot of stock lately," Ryan says gamely.

The bottom line is that there is a desperate need for patent reform. My first suggestion is a peer review process. Technology specialization has gotten to the point where I do not think a fulltime patent clerk can stay current in a field. Second, the patent process must be completed in a short timeframe. If you cannot provide a clear patent right away, then you probably do not have good idea. The current patent process has a disclosure document program that can be used to help establish precedent. It even provides for a patent pending. IMHO those two concepts provide sufficient protection of an idea. The purpose of a finite timeframe is to reduce the number of submarine patents.

A dissenting opinion to my view can be found here.

remember everyone, one more hit on their server will bring them to their end just a little sooner.

remember everyone, one more hit on their server will bring them to their end just a little sooner.

remember everyone, one more hit on their server will bring them to their end just a little sooner.

PanIP is not the only company shaking down webmasters on the basis of dubious patents.
A company called Acacia Media (or Acacia Research) is claiming to have a patent on all forms of video served online. Currently they are going after the online "adult" industry, I guess they figure
its an easier mark than mainstream. If you have videos on your site regardless of format, they want you to pay. Unfortunately there isn't a website that I can post yet, because the defense
is just getting organized.