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Acadia Streaming Patent Contested
Anonymous Coward writes "Since last year Acadia Research has sent hundreds of letters to various porn web sites to arrange royalty deals, picking on the small fry before trying to take on well-heeled companies such as Disney. However, many small fries refused, and now 40 firms have joined forces and are embroiled in a suit with Acadia. Fish & Richardson (a prominent intellectual property law firm) have taken their case. The best part? CEO Paul Ryan's obvious sour-grapes-syndrome, he goes from describing the web porn industry as a "billion-dollar industry" where the money is to a "sideshow" that's "maybe 1% of our potential revenues". Check it out here"
In other news, Amazon plans to sue every site on the internet that uses cookies, as well as Microsoft for allowing sites other than Amazon to stores cookies.
This isn't the first Forbes anti-excessive patents article they've run... as a matter of fact, I've seen links to a couple already on Slashdot. Could Steve Forbes be pushing for patent reform to be a Republican plank in '04 (especially if he decides to run again...)?
more case of Patents gone crazy. The patent office was designed to protect ones ideas and STIMULATE growth, not to allow people to suddenly restrict the use of a VERY commonpractice. I can't say that I'm too pleased with their lawsuit, but I do appreciate the nuances. If I created something, I'd sure as hell want to keep it protected and to earn royalties. Yet at the same time, this is abusing the system. They have a patent on something. That something becomes common practice. That patent becomes lucrative. Company suddenly goes after people using common practice. And they go really low, because they beleive that the porn industry, made of lots o lil fishes, won't be able to defend themselves. After all, the court will just frown down on these "dispicable" people (hey, everyone needs to make a living).
I am all for patents, and for protecting your ideas. but I am also for the expansion of ideas and the advancement of us all. So poo-on-you Acadia!
YOU SUCK BALLS!
Yeah, yeah, go ahead & reply w/ the obligatory joke about /.ers "not having to worry about getting sued for infringement."
Think, write, think, edit, think...then post.
Eight firms agreed to Acacia's terms. But 40 didn't, and Acacia promptly slapped them with lawsuits. Rather than buckling, though, several of the porno sites joined together and stood their ground. Now Acacia is in the fight of its life and may even face a shareholder revolt as a result.
Searching for sexual innuendos..... searching......
I love the smell of Karma in the morning
Don't EVER post a story about porn sites and end it with a link entitled "Check it out here" :(
You really got my hopes up
my other penis is a vagina
sent hundreds of letters to various porn web sites to arrange royalty deals, picking on the small fry before trying to take on well-heeled companies such as Disney.
I imagine they will feel insulted at being called a well heeled porn site.
It would be like a massive horde of little white knights rushing to breach......wait. Lets not go there.
Mod Points: Helping you keep your opinion to yourself.
"Acadia Research has sent hundreds of letters to various porn web sites ... picking on the small fry before trying to take on well-heeled companies such as Disney."
By 'various porn web sites' do you mean the single largest online industry and the driving force behind countless advancements of the internet over the years? I think it's safe to say that Acadia Research chose the wrong 'small fry' to pick on.
No mean no!
Is a royalty-free streaming video feed of the court proceedings. They promise to be quite entertaining.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
Make them watch twenty hours of Ron Jeremy, they'll buckle quicker than Asia Carerras panties come off
You'd get karma points for being modded up as Insightful and Funny!
Think, write, think, edit, think...then post.
No, its a screaming warning sign not to invest you idiot. And coupled with this ridiculous patent grab its a bigger warning to stay away.
I think every healthy, freedom-loving Slashdot reader owes these porn purveyors our thanks. Each and every one of you should go subscribe to their services tonight - remember, you're doing it to protect innovation. If this angers your wife/girlfriend, tell her it's for a good cause.
Think, write, think, edit, think...then post.
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.
You must be thinking of trademarks; see my comment on that. Patents cannot be lost by neglect to defend them. However, it may happen that the patent cannot be enforced in a certain case.
If company B has been infringing company A's patent for five years, and company A knew about it all along, and then suddenly decides to sue over it, B can use as a defense that, in effect, A's ignorage of the infringement excused it.
But if company C then comes along and infringes the same patent for the first time, A would still be able to enforce the patent on C. So patents are never lost completely, only partially under certain circumstances.
Also, this kind of situation doesn't tend to come up very often.
Haven't the US patent office worked out yet the system is being abuse? I mean as they are going for streaming media does this mean they could go for people who are downloading MP3's (legal or not). This case deserves to be kicked out of court or its going to be hell for everyone. Of course if this is allowed I'm going to patent toilet paper and then ask for 1% of everyone income. Now that would be crap :P (pun intended)
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
God i'll sue him Rotacorpse© was my idea ...
I'm sure Thomas Jefferson is spinning in his grave.
Hmm, maybe that was the plan.
1. Install an alternator inside Thomas Jefferson's grave.
2. Abuse the patent system.
3. Sell the electricity generated by the alternator.
4. Profit!!!
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
Anyone know when this was originally patented? I can't seem to find it at the Patent Office online. I remember watching streaming video/audio in Real Player around 95, and videoconferencing in 90-91 (which is streaming video). Unless they patented this in the early 80's, there's TONS of prior art to this.
Hmmmm, maybe I'll patent the idea of prior art. Wonder if it's been tried already.
Prior Art: The process of which indicates if an already existing patent and/or use was already pre-existing. If anything remotely acts/looks/operates/functions to/like anything already existing, they are in violation of this patent.
It's better to burn out than to fade away
How many of their readers need to have explained in baby talk what streamed video porn might be about? And then there's the suggestion that a law firm had to be persuaded to take the case. Let's just explain this. The way you "persuade" a law firm to take your case is, you offer them enough money.
The writer seems to be uncomfortable that porn companies are involved. But it's hard to understand why they should be any worse ethically than gun companies, liquor companies, and certainly tobacco companies, and they spend huge amounts of money on lobbying and litigation to protect their interests.
Anyway, they are to be applauded. Acacia is basically (in my admittedly incompetent opinion only) a loser company with a business model based on a protection racket, and has tried to set the price of being left alone at a level low enough that its victims will pay rather than litigate. They have chosen to litigate, and that increases the chance that this kind of thing will fail in future. Which is good for innovation and the economy. And, as I suspect the Democrats will be saying in 2004, it's the economy, stupid.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
Hey!
Where are Cage & McBeal?
What's the deal with Fish and that other guy? That "Richardson" seems suspiciously like "Richard"...
. . . to invent a business model that let's the porn industry make you look sleazy.
These people claim to have patents on digital cell phones. I wonder if they realize that yet.