Playboy Agrees to Enter Licensing Agreement with Acacia
Acacia Research Corporation, a US company which, through its subsidiary, Acacia Technologies Group, holds a number of US and international patents it claims describe video on demand (specifically, the on-demand transmission of compressed video and audio over the Internet, cable, wireless and other platforms), has scored another victory in its ongoing campaign to persuade VOD providers to recognize and license those patents: Playboy Enterprises has agreed to enter into a licensing agreement for the company's technology, bringing to 118 the total number of license agreements Acacia has so far secured for the technology (note: Disney also recently agreed to purchase a patent license). Financial terms of the agreement with Playboy have not been disclosed, but Acacia usually demands royalties in the 1% range. Acacia, which acquired the patents from a group of engineers and entrepreneurs to whom they were issued in the early 90's (note: the group later incorporated as Greenwich Information Technologies), is currently conducting 2 lawsuits against alleged infringers upon its patents: one against Liberty Media-owned hospitality-industry ITV provider, On Command, and the other against 17 adult Web sites. It says it is targeting its patent-infringement claims at media companies that are offering VOD services, rather than at VOD software and equipment providers. (Note: for an in-depth article on Acacia and its claims, see [itvt] Issue 5.29 Part 1 1/5/04.)
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The newsletter is done by Tracy Swedlow.
Copyright 1998 - 2004 [itvt] | Swedlow. All rights reserved.
Acacia Research Corporation, a US company which, through its subsidiary, Acacia Technologies Group, holds a number of US and international patents it claims describe video on demand (specifically, the on-demand transmission of compressed video and audio over the Internet, cable, wireless and other platforms), has scored another victory in its ongoing campaign to persuade VOD providers to recognize and license those patents: Playboy Enterprises has agreed to enter into a licensing agreement for the company's technology, bringing to 118 the total number of license agreements Acacia has so far secured for the technology (note: Disney also recently agreed to purchase a patent license). Financial terms of the agreement with Playboy have not been disclosed, but Acacia usually demands royalties in the 1% range. Acacia, which acquired the patents from a group of engineers and entrepreneurs to whom they were issued in the early 90's (note: the group later incorporated as Greenwich Information Technologies), is currently conducting 2 lawsuits against alleged infringers upon its patents: one against Liberty Media-owned hospitality-industry ITV provider, On Command, and the other against 17 adult Web sites. It says it is targeting its patent-infringement claims at media companies that are offering VOD services, rather than at VOD software and equipment providers. (Note: for an in-depth article on Acacia and its claims, see [itvt] Issue 5.29 Part 1 1/5/04.)
Just sharing the text of the article.
The newsletter is done by Tracy Swedlow.
Copyright 1998 - 2004 [itvt] | Swedlow. All rights reserved.
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