Received one of those Acacia notices...it's informative and nothing more. It was sent via bulk mail; note the signature on the notice is a faux signature.
It's so obvious they just obtained a list of names from some sponsors to send notices to...my adult sites have NEVER contained any streaming media of any kind nor ever directly linked to any such content.
Surely they're not suggesting that standard HTML (ie. the A HREF link tag) itself is supposedly a patent violation too? Are they? If so then I guess the W3C group got a mountain of Acacia letters too :-?
Anyways, these are the following sponsors to AVOID ... one or more of them GAVE private information about webmasters to Acacia:
If you have an affiliate account with of the following sponsors consider canceling them since, according to the letter I received, they settled with Acacia - and one or more of them appears to have provided Acacia with private webmaster information:
Sponsors to AVOID:
* Hustler - not sure if they have an affiliate program anymore?
* IGallery / SmartBucks - doesn't appear they shared their affiliate list? But still...
* CE Cash / Cybererotica - read reports these folks shared their affiliate lists.
* Sexcheck AVS - owned by Dellwood Holdings...that company name seems awfully familiar...do they own any other sponsors?
* Platinum Bucks - may have shared their affiliate list?
On an aside, I'm curious whether webmasters who ultimately get sued by Acacia have any legal avenue against those sponsors that settled with Acacia and yet continue to run affiliate programs without disclosing Acacia patents; even those that have public disclosures, not sure that protects them if they allow affiliates to join without requiring them to sign a patent license agreement first with Acacia...
...My hunch tells me sponsors who settled with Acacia better hope none of their affiliate webmasters get sued...some of those webmasters may come back with legal action against the sponsors; or take other unrelated actions, since many adult sponsors are very vulnerable in numerous legal areas.
There are likely numerous other sponsors that have settled with Acacia and so it may not be practical for all webmasters to avoid all of them, but it's best to avoid as many of the above listed sponsors as possible - especially for new folks ... once you signup with any of the above listed sponsors, expect trouble!
Ron
It's so obvious they just obtained a list of names from some sponsors to send notices to...my adult sites have NEVER contained any streaming media of any kind nor ever directly linked to any such content.
Surely they're not suggesting that standard HTML (ie. the A HREF link tag) itself is supposedly a patent violation too? Are they? If so then I guess the W3C group got a mountain of Acacia letters too :-?
Anyways, these are the following sponsors to AVOID ... one or more of them GAVE private information about webmasters to Acacia:
If you have an affiliate account with of the following sponsors consider canceling them since, according to the letter I received, they settled with Acacia - and one or more of them appears to have provided Acacia with private webmaster information:
Sponsors to AVOID:
* Hustler - not sure if they have an affiliate program anymore?
* IGallery / SmartBucks - doesn't appear they shared their affiliate list? But still...
* CE Cash / Cybererotica - read reports these folks shared their affiliate lists.
* Sexcheck AVS - owned by Dellwood Holdings...that company name seems awfully familiar...do they own any other sponsors?
* Platinum Bucks - may have shared their affiliate list?
On an aside, I'm curious whether webmasters who ultimately get sued by Acacia have any legal avenue against those sponsors that settled with Acacia and yet continue to run affiliate programs without disclosing Acacia patents; even those that have public disclosures, not sure that protects them if they allow affiliates to join without requiring them to sign a patent license agreement first with Acacia...
...My hunch tells me sponsors who settled with Acacia better hope none of their affiliate webmasters get sued...some of those webmasters may come back with legal action against the sponsors; or take other unrelated actions, since many adult sponsors are very vulnerable in numerous legal areas.
There are likely numerous other sponsors that have settled with Acacia and so it may not be practical for all webmasters to avoid all of them, but it's best to avoid as many of the above listed sponsors as possible - especially for new folks ... once you signup with any of the above listed sponsors, expect trouble!
Ron
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