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Acacia - Hustler and Vivid Joint Statement
As most of you know, Hustler and Vivid recently signed a licence agreement with Acacia. After spending a large sum of money fighting this lawsuit, they settled for one simple reason, because it was the right business decision. It was the right decision for them and for their affiliates.
Hustler and Vivid have built their companies into what they are today by making a series of good business decisions over a long period of time. Some of these decisions have allowed others (including most of you) to greatly profit from the adult industry. There is a time and place to fight and it would be wise to have more faith in companies who have proven themselves over the course of time, rather than make uninformed decisions based on very limited information.
Hustler and Vivid share one common goal. That goal is to be a stable force in this very unstable industry and to provide affiliates with a "safe haven" for their traffic. Safe from attacks by Acacia or anyone else who might want to harm their businesses.
As part of their settlement agreements, all FlyntDigital and VividCash affiliates are indemnified from paying Acacia fees for traffic they send to these programs. This was a condition that was not given up easily and that Hustler and Vivid spent a lot of time and money negotiating for. Therefore, if Acacia decides to go after affiliates for "contributing" to the infringement of their patents, Hustler and Vivid affiliates will already be protected.
In addition, Hustler and Vivid are simply absorbing the additional fees they have to pay Acacia and will not pass on any of these fees in the form of lower payouts, etc. Therefore, the "attack" by Acacia will have no financial impact on Hustler and Vivid affiliates. That was their goal and it has been accomplished.
Having said that, the settlement by Hustler and Vivid by no means validates Acacia's patents. That can only be done in a court of law. Hustler and Vivid respect and support the decisions of the groups who have decided to fight Acacia. We hope they achieve their end goals, whatever they might be. We have achieved ours in our own way, which we ultimately believe will best serve our affiliates and business partners.
A few months ago, when other programs tried to lower payouts because of new Visa/MasterCard regulations, what did Hustler do? They raised payouts, which caused most of their competitors to back peddle and keep their payouts the same. That single decision on the part of Hustler, put hundreds of thousands of extra dollars back in the pockets of affiliates. Why? Because Hustler made the right business decision for them and for their affiliates, which caused their competitors to remain competitive. Who was the big winner from Hustler's decision to raise payouts? Affiliates were......many of which were not even our affiliates.
In these uncertain times, Hustler and Vivid are companies that affiliates can depend on over the long term. This industry is under attack from every angle and it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Who do you think will survive and who will be able to make their affiliate payouts, regardless of what comes their way?
My money is on Hustler and Vivid....
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