Have video? Then Acacia is coming for YOU!

Glad to hear AVN is on it!

that means all the other news agencies will pick it up soon thereafter. The thing is YES this is all pretty new and everyone is consulting with lawyers. I have lots of patience but its still hard.

I am curious about something... above I read that starting rate they are charging is 1000.00 but my package says 1500.00 and more specifically it says

GROSS SALES
1 to 50,000 dollars owing to Acacia is 1500.00
50k to 100k owing is 3,000

and you estimate next years gross on this previous years BUT if your wrong there is stiff penalties and they are

50k to 100k ACTUAL GROSS you pay ADDITIONAL 4050

now the math would tell me that say you paid them 1500. thinking you were going to make 50k or under but you made instead 51 k then you would owe the original prepaid amount of 1500. PLUS their penalty of 4050

LMAO

it gets better...

they want audit rights yes... and open for examination rights and if your caught cheating you will have to pay for the audit LOL Plus we would have to give them access to the covered websites at any time for the purpose of verifying compliance with the agreeent. Such access shall include the right to embed source code for the purpose of tracking the use of audiot video technology.


AND if that were not enough (the entire document is a great read) they expect us to upfront give out the following information to them:

list of all affiliates
covered websites
list of current content providers.


There is an exhibit on the document... that has licenced patents... I will type out the countries they say they are patented in

us
taiwan
mexico
japan
belgium
switzerland
france
italy
luxembourg
monico
netherlands
sweden
great britain
greece
spain
denmark
german
austria


now I have no idea where canada fits in... as with the visa issue I am quite sure that we fall thru some black hole. we probably honor all american patents or something like that.

I'd like to know where Canada fits in as well. They have no patent here but Canadians are still getting the package.

Email me or look me up on icq hon

If I find out I can keep you informed and vice versa





Of amusing interest... Acacia is a tree with HUGE ass thorns on them.

anybody care to comment on what I mentioned earlier?

You can't patent something that is already in use by other people.

Ie. since videos were delivered over computer networks before 1991 when they filed the patent, Acacia can blow me.

regardless of how invalid there claim may be, it will cost a very large amount of money to fight this if you're brought to court.

Exactly... and contrary to "innocent till proven guilty" this goes the other way around. We have to prove we are NOT guilty... and you can bet that we would have to pay court costs either way.

I posted elsewhere that its actually pretty smart to start at the bottom with scare mongering tactics in the hope that in all actuality anyone that pays will have consulted their lawyer who would have informed them that paying up is much cheaper then going to court....so the little guys pay up and let Acacia gather money and momentum to go after the big guys.

its like spontaneous combustian.


Domaingirls you keep speaking of a "court complaint" I dont hear that anyone other then you have that? I have a glossy package that has instructions to compy by December 15th or else they will have no choice but to take us to court. Here is the wording:


What if I dont enter into a license with Acacia?

Our preference is to enter into a license agreement with you without the need for patent litigation, which is very expensife. In the event that you elect to not return the signed Agreements and Initial Prepaid Royalty payment to us by the date indicated, Acacia will have the right to seek royalties for past and future infringing activities at rates that are higher than the rates set forth in the Agreement.




Also of humorous note... Acacia trees have huge ass thorns.

I got the same package, one of my golf partners is a prominent tax and intellectual property attorney. Has JD and a CPA...what a boring way to go to college. He still owes me 200 bucks from last years ongoing match play, so I went to see him about it. He is, incidentally, the president of the Illinois Bar Association, so he has a certain degree of success in these matters.

He was pretty amused by the whole thing, calling basically extortion. He dragged out the case a few months ago in Texas, I believe, that involved the hyperlink issue, which was closed with a summary dismissal.

He believes their strategy is to go after some smaller companies and get lucky and win one. Most smaller companies don't have deep pockets for the appeals process, which is very costly. Then, have a go at a CNN type operation.

His opinion was similiar to the hyperlink decision, those patents were issued before the scope of the internet could be determined and probably will not get far.

To that end, he drafted a letter and told them, essentially, to pound salt....only it was in legalise and sounded really nice. He cited several different precedent cases in regard to their claim. He also told me he would take the case pro bono against next years golf season. Hope I win on the links.

He really wasn't very concerned about it because most sharp attorneys would force them to try the case in the webmasters or companies jurisdiction, which would be extremely costly, for the licensing fee they are asking for. They would essentially have to hire or send their attorney's all over the US trying to obtain their fees.

As a long time stockbroker, I also looked up their cash flow statement, and this would appear to be a strategy to bolster their books, as they bleeding debt profusely.

For the record, I am NOT A LAWYER, and make your decisions on what your attorney recommends. I am only relying on the legal advise that I obtained.

We have also received the package even though our company is NOT among the countries they claim to have patents in.... They simply took the address from WHOIS info which is not the address of our registered office... FYI

Yes, I received their crap 2 weeks ago, I read it and
threw it away.

I felt like this, if it was legit, then it would have came
certified mail not standard BS.


Holio is leading a crusade on this..

I still think if we all wrote microsoft and said Why did you license a technology to me, thats not yours and explain how the real owners of it are asking for a licensing fee. First I am not talking about one person writing I am talking about 100 to 1000 letters to microsoft all saying the same thing. Everyone says no one gives a shit about adult sites thats true but they are not stupid . If they get a large amount of letters they will know these thieves are going after small fish to get ready to go after a large fish. Letter writing campaigns can be very useful and we attack them like they fucked us, they will react.

Everyone who is interested in this should call in or appear at the Holio offices for the meeting on Wed.

Quiet: Please email me with all your contact info if you would like more information . We are going to attend the Holio meeting and will certainly take an aggressive defensive posture to deal with this.

[email protected]

ok guys and gals here is some more useful info.. Just got off the phone with the attorney.. their firm is already representing 12 other compaines (both large and small) against Acacia Media... If you are in the adult biz, don't just blow this one off or you may wind up in prison... YES i said prison. In the adult industry we already have a lot of legal crap to deal with and this one can add the final nail to the coffin (so to speak)...

First we need to know if we are infringing on their patents (most likely yes)... then we need to know what defenses we can take. Well, proving "Prior Use" is a good way to start.. video over bbs systems and such was before their patents... There were some other things the lawyer said too but remembering everything he said isn't that easy;-)... He mentioned stuff about "RICO Act", and other things that may scare Acacia.. Yes i said RICO... basically the way Acacia wants to get paid would put them in jeopardy of being part of someone else's legal (racketeering) problems...

Acacia has ways to scare us too... They can use competion something or other (sorry didn't write down what wording the attorney used) that would allow Acacia to say those not paying the license are creating unfair competition for those companies that are... and guess what, that's a felony boys and girls. the attorney said a whole bunch of other stuff that has me a bit scared about it too but i won't go into every detail (get your own attorney:-).

Bottom line: If you are a small company and want to fight "you're fucked"... This one is going to cost a FORTUNE... But good news: If you are in Californa go to the Holio meeting this week. There will be attorneys there and everything will be discussed. My attorney gave some advice to the firms that will be there (he can't be there because of conflict of interest, companies he represents will be settling differently) and he said that it sounds like they will be grouping funds together to fight Acacia. So if you want to fight, your best bet is to get in with them... Fighting on your own will leave you living in a cardboard box on the street...

sorry i don't have all the details from the attorney in here but it was just a consultation to see if i wanted to retain him to fight and at $350 an hour i moved it along kind of quick.

I don't know why us... maybe they like us because we represent many different content providers... but we got along with the glossy package a "Complaint for patent infringement, permanent injunction, and damages demand for jury trial" packet

Also everyone in here is bitching about streaming media over the internet... their patent does NOT specifically state the internet.. It states, and i quote from my complaint paperwork" Audio and Video Transmission And Receiving System"

I am not even sure my complaint actually went to the court.... it says "United States District Court Central District of Califrnia" but the clerks signature is missing under "filed"... Don't know will need to give this to the attorney too. Looks just like other paperwork i have gotten when i had court dates (suites i was filing).

They cant put you in jail for this, they can sue the shit out of you lol. Your lawyer is representing people that are settling who are these fools ? Also I dont think you were served, lawsuits dont come on glossey paper.We should all think before we jump. Lawyers will see this as a billing opportunity, even though they are representing our best interests. Also if we pay on any level, you minds well find a new way to make a living. Its like the candy store owner who pays extortion then everybody is looking for money. These people are fishing to see who will be scared and pay, they aren't suing anyone yet why do that when you can get the low hanging fruit first.

Acacia DMT(digital media transmission):

the Acacia tree is one of the plants that Dimethyl Tryptamine (DMT) is extracted from. DMT is one of the most potent drugs you can possibly take.. acid X 10.
i'ts why i made a bad "they must be tripping" joke in another thread.

"Audio and Video Transmission And Receiving System"


Are they going to sue NBC? HBO? The people who make my TV? A judge to give a ruling in their favor would have to be smoking dope because he would be opening a huge can of worms.

they have specific setups... check their diagrams from page one.

http://www.jagnotes.com/archive_jagn...02&startrow=71

I missed the holio meeting yesterday... so what happened? someone that was there or listening in, fill us all in...

thanks

I listened and it seems like too many lawyers smell blood in the water lol.

any news about this shit?

Yeah, I've been wondering too.
I hope nobody paid them.

What's the latest on this?

I believe from what i have read on this, it would be wise to keep further dicussion on this matter off the public boards.

As was previously mentioned, anyone that has been contacted by Acacia and does not intend paying should email [email protected] to get further information on happenings.

check this out on the australian patent website


go here http://apa.hpa.com.au:8080/ipapa/qsearch?

and put

200245891

into the Patent Application number check out what it comes up with


regards
garv

How many times have we seen crap like this? Remember when Amazon was going to sue anyone with a a partner program. Or how about sex.com? Patent laws don't cover such broad strokes guys or there would only have been one soda pop.

Any decent opposition will fold this pretty quickly. The best they'll probably end up holding the rights to a specific means of streaming video like a compression scheme or a codec, etc...

Your all fucked. I just got the patent for displaying pictures on the web. Sorry guys...

oh ya, and im working on the patent to play sounds on the web right now. Sorry guys...

AHAHAHAHAH

This situation seems like a screw up at the patent office and continued proof that bureaucrats and the governement in general still has very little comprehension of the internet and it's workings.

Getting a patent is not a simple thing and whovever approved and signed off on this was either duped, fucked up or is in on the take. Conspiracy? Hmmm

When I had a restaurant in NYC I used to get legal letters (canned and probably sent to many businesses) from EMI saying that we needed to pay a yearly licensing fee for playing the radio for our customers. These letters came maybe 4 times a year and I always put them away in "file 13".... They never pursued anything. When corporations get big and lazy they are always looking for ways to bully money from smaller guys.

Personally it makes me happy to see the turmoil that mp3 trading is causing those greedy bitches. (off topic, sorry...)

Hmmm... '91... that's a little too late... The internet was started before that point... and like somebody else said we have .GL video porn in '90 at least... I specifically remember in '90 my friend had an EGA monitor -- and we downloaded some vids of chicks fucking a soda can, vegetables, etc... Not to mention even before that the Amiga video toaster was already a very powerful video editing system... I was a member of the Boca Amiga Club and we had access to the internet through FAU -- that was '89 or earlier...

Wow.. I remember those old vids of the girl fucking the coke bottle.. it was very popular on my bbs.. ;)

if you think this is funny in any way, you don't understand the situation.

this is going to cost a huge amount of money, and effort to fight.

big fucking time. BIG fucking time.