ACACIA here on GFY and deadline.

If I'm not mistaken they take a percentage of gross REVENUE, not gross profit.

There are too many different ways to calculate "profit" One accountants profit is another accountants loss.

You couldn't out me if you tried. no one can.

if it's not that big of a part of your site/business -- yank`em down and tell acadia to go fuck themselves. if all they are is "bonus material/goodies" anyway, is it worth forking over acadia's 1 to 2 % "extortion money" ? let `em quit "wasting" their time worrying about you so they can focus more on how to deal with micro$erf, aol and realmedia ...

NO MERCY!

I'll stop using the technology before I'll pay those extortionists one cent... mostly because I barely have a cent to pay them anyway. But I wouldn't want to let them get away with this even if I was a millionaire! These people are muy loco.

I still want to know how the U.S. Patent Office became so messed up that they'd allow someone to patent technology that they didn't even develop! GRR

Oh yeah, and if Al Gore ever gets a patent on the internet I'm going to move to Alaska and become a whale blubber farmer.

so ... anybody linking to a sponsor hosted video site/gallery is now in the crosshairs also ? same with a TGP site owner who puts up a link to a movie gallery submitted by somebody ? ... ( also when in fact THOSE parties may already be being tapped by them )

... and they want 1 to 2% of revenues even if having that link ultimately makes you squat.

According to the paperwork .. you are in violation if you link to someplace that has streaming video - because you are encouraging people to infringe on their patent.

Part of the agreement includes listing ALL of your affiliates - ALL of your content providers - and of course all of your 'legally owned' domains.

So anyone that has signed this agreement had to fill that info out, unless they had a special deal with Acacia. Which in turn feeds the lists of people they're sending the extortion requests to - It's a self propogating list that 'we' do their work for them in ratting out everyone in the business.

I don't think they'll win in court either, it hasn't been tried yet though. They're just setting their own rules right now - and if they get enough defaults and agreements, they've set a precedent that will bolster their defense when it does go to court.

The percentage of gross revenue is ridiculous. As someone's already said - my gross revenue is not based purely on streaming video. It's a percentage of my site<s> which in turn is still a small percentage of my revenue. They want to become 'partners' with us in our business by using their bully tactics.

Acacia isn't a company of fools. They have all their companies seperate from each other.

If they lose this battle ACTG will but shut down faster than you can say Bre-X.

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. They would still be able to sue for $ based on your prior use.

Greetings:

I see this from the perspective of a Canadian. A bit long - but there may be some useful info for everyone scattered throughout.

I DO NOT RECOGNIZE AMERICAN PATENTS. Especially when it seems there are more lawsuits in a country than there are people. I don't see Canada anywhere on their site AND they do cite countries specifically. In my mind, that might nullify any "International" patent claims they come across. They have simply detailed themselves to such a degree as to show that they knew full well what they were doing - so to generalize from said detail would be a regression - and make every other claim they have very weak indeed.

As soon as they go about suing someone who has enough money to defend themselves, their patent will be proven invalidated. I believe this for a couple of reasons.

One: Their website says: This publication is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied,.... <<<< they are leaving a way out to lie to you in hopes that you get scared of them so you just won't even bother.

Two: They don't link to a patent database outside of their site. See number one.

Three: Look at the number of patents they have to cite before getting to their own thought on the matter: http://www.acaciaresearch.com/dmt/dmt_05132992.html. (linked from http://www.acaciaresearch.com/dmt/dmt_uspatents.html). Don't tell me your idea is unique when you had to read so many other patents to get a concept that is already there and reword it.

Four: NATURAL PROGRESSION. (same as 3 i guess).

For any webmasters out there who have streaming and are worried about this - I have a dedicated line and servers to get going. But if you guys need some help and I, as a person in Canada, with a Server sitting right beside me, am willing to help those who need it. Though my time is somewhat limited by the fact that I am building systems and living off less than most people spend on food every month (I can provide witnesses )

So if there is a demand, I shall see what I can do to provide a service. If the content is yours, I should be able to host only the controls. I may require some tech help along the way just to speed up the process ;)

One other point: the big companies might LIKE what acacia is doing, since the price acacia is putting on things is high enough to eliminate the little guy and let the big guy get off scott free with relatively little expense. And as much as Acacia denies it, they are going for the track record so that they can cite all the other cases that they have won when someone actually does put up a fight. (I am surprised that the judge had to announce them as 'winning' when the patent itself is most likely full of holes, regardless of who cared to show up in court).

SO Aciacia -Read this: FUCK YOU.

The rest of you, my offer is on the table - the more people need it and the more tech help I get the quicker it will get done. I would love to work on this (I would set up a quick demo if I had the time/resources) but since I am scraping as it is, there must be real need - but this is one I would not mind putting above financial gain. I DO NOT WISH TO MAKE MONEY FROM THIS LITTLE TOOL (partly because they would use it as more of a reason to sue & partly because I believe good people are being wronged).

This will at least give you guys a few weeks until they get their Dirty Money into Canada to try and thrash us. But hopefully we can set up a proxy web to make sure it will always works. (any takers? ;))

But for what is below, that's it
Cheers,
/Allister

P.S. I couldn't find an intro board - I have been in the Internet Industry for years, many of them Adult. I have sat quietly in the background working for others. But I have broken free of that mess and become a contractor and have become unwilling to sit on my hands when people are getting screwed over. I have a reputation for saying it like it is, so some people might not like me. But I'm not around for politics and bullshit - which is probably what you really need to know

P.P.S. I sent a letter to them a couple of days ago saying what I see on their site - worded as follows: Greetings:

I just read some interesting articles on how your company claims patent on things like streaming video. After reading said article and looking at your website, I must tell you how your company comes across.

I suspect more of an organized crime type of setup in your business than much else when I look at your website. You don't link to all of the of your International patents and you don't link off-site. This tells us that you have something to hide. Not to mention that you don't care about anything else and/or no one cares to be associated with you.

It should also be pointed out that the fact that your whole listing of members of the company - none of them have to do anything beyond "being" in existence. Even then with social security numbers it could all be a lie with the roster saying they showed up for the yearly meeting.

In any case. I know business is about business and not about honesty, honour or decency to any degree. May you get sued by those you have done wrong by and die poor and penniless alcoholics.

Cheers,
/Allister

PPPS. what the hell is it with this "Probably Spamming" message. Holy fuck people...guilty until proven innocent around here? :D

then following that logic/legal arguement -- every single webmaster linking to a sponsor/site may possibly be in violation of this "so called patent".

and Kimmy: yeah - they may be able to ding you for the prior time frame that they can prove, but if it's just some bonus goodies that aren't your bread and butter -- why keep them up.

If anyone's still making a good living off pictures alone, I would be surprised.

And a big ole happy birthday to Gramma!