Acacia sues Club Jenna

100 Acacia Lawsuits

recapping for those that don't flip back to previous pages:


Court documents were filed on 12/18 against Club Jenna Inc. by Acacia.



Additional lawsuits filed against:

Orgasm.com

Webpower Inc. = Click Cash (iFriends)

Cybernet Ventures = Adult Check

Global AVS = ProAdult

ICS Inc. = adult.com

National A-1 Advert =
singles.com, sextoys.com , girls.com , guys.com , ladies.com, slaves.com , celebrities.com, cash.com



In addition, Acacia is proposing to the judge to allow for 2 class action lawsuits that cover the entire adult industry.

AVN article from the 22nd about proposed class action lawsuit by Acacia against the adult industry:

http://www.avnonline.com/issues/2003...122203_3.shtml



At InterNext, on Jan 5th (monday) at 4pm, Spike, Gregory Clayman, and I will be discussing how patents affect businesses and what can businesses do.



Fight the Woj always getting the first posting slot!

At InterNext, on Jan 5th (Monday) at 4pm is the Patent Panel with Spike, Greg Clayman, and myself.

The topic is to talk about how patents affect the Adult Industry and how to deal with them.

On one hand, you have the point that the industry should unite together, to form a common defense. Banding together can help to reduce the financial expenses of a lawsuit, as well as helping to take a stand (ie. Defense Fund/Defense Group/IMPA).

The threats of patent lawsuits are not limited to Acacia, and we may very well see adult industry players having their own patent lawsuits.

On the other side, you have the other point that businesses will react and do what is in their best interest. Should it mean paying the license, it's their business decision to do so.


The fundamental issue for the patent panel and even in this discussion between the two points, is really, do webmasters even care to band together? or will they all act as an island unto themselves and do what's best for them individually?

When you are faced with a company that has deeper pockets and a litigious agenda, it is very intimidating and daunting for a smaller company to be able to fight.

So maybe those with deeper pockets could afford to pay a license... but for the vast majority that don't, what are their options?

It is a grave abuse of patent and civil law when an entity can literally roll-over a company because they don't have the ability to fight.

This is why the ACLU and EFF were formed, to help the little guy fight against injustice.

And this is why i proposed Fight the Patent Foundation... but as we have all seen by the counter...the level of support has not been there...which gives an informal conclusion that webmasters will just deal with these stiffling issues on their own...

The current 11 defendants Feb 6th court day is certainly promising, and many are sitting on the sidelines waiting for that day.. but as you have seen by the topic of this thread, Acacia has added more lawsuits, and have proposed 2 class action lawsuits.

The entire Adult Industry will be adversely affected if the judge grants the class action status.

Even then, knowing that EVERY adult company is involved now, won't necessarily make companies rally together. It's just like public radio and PBS....many will watch/listen for free while others contribute to the funding.

With the large attendences of InterNext...I hope all webmasters will jam pack the Patent Panel to listen to what the panelists have to say, to listen to what your fellow webmasters have to say, and to voice your own thoughts and opinions.




Fight the Ostriches!

National A-1 has been around forever. He's pretty private, so I'm not going to mention his name...but..they own cash.com. .spanking.com...and a whole bunch of one word domains....they, I believe, began in the early 90's with audio text.

I've read in some posts that people will believe most of the new defendants will just settle, and that Acacia had done their homework wisely and been advised of which targets to pick.

If these companies want to fight, then I am sure they have already contacted Spike and finding out their options to join the Defense Group... or of course, they could just settle.



Fight the Consultants!

I bet Webpower's online division is worth A LOT more than hustler's, and thus has more money at risk. Hustler's online business is paltry, really, so it would make sense for them to settle. 1.3mil per month is nothing.

But also keep in mind, that Acacia's DMT patent isn't just limited to internet.. it includes Video on Demand.. so Hustler has revenue streams from videos over pay-per-view (whether it be satellite or cable).

This DMT patent also applies to phones... if someone calls up a phone service and selects a message to be played back them, it's still covered under the patent claims.



Fight the Claims!

Does Acacia ever give up?

No, this is just Round 2 for them.

It is their business plan to find new patents and use the same methods to attract licenses.

So we should all fully expect Round 3.. but maybe Round 3, they won't go after the Adult Industry once they see their patent invalidated by the current 11 defendants, and hopefully joined by the new list of defendants.

More interesting, is what other patent portfolio companies that will pop up, who admire Acacia's business model and try to do the same. Even more interesting is if it comes from within the Adult Industry.

If the patent is solid, and there is no prior art... Happy Monetizing to them... may they shower in licensing deals.

BUT, if there is prior art..... then it should be an Unhappy Invalidating.



Fight the Rocky sequels!

For those tracking Acacia's stock, I have created a new page that matches news events with share volumes:


http://www.fightthepatent.com/ACTG.htm



Fight the Correlations!

acacia is going to have their grunts running around internext like rats!

and i wonder if they are going to have the balls to wear "acacia" on their badges.

Just look for college-age looking kids grabbing business cards from each booth.....that's probably Acacia's "research team".


but then again, if you see college-age looking kids grabbing the freebies at the booths, that's probably some webmasters.






Fight the Goonies!

They run pink4free.

Good idea! Is there some way to view the press releases actually on the graph - as dots or numbers or something?

Is that gross revenue or profit? I hope it's profit....sounds like it is.

I just got the start of the page up today and already got requests for features


Great idea...to highlight the major highpoints of volume with news events in the graph....


I'm playing around with some graphing to help visually summarize.. right now, it's all tablature data for referencing.



Fight the Product Enhancements!

Gross Revenue most likely.



Fight the Expenses!