I don't see how there could possibly be any other outcome as long as the patents are challenged. Their claims are so broad and ridiculous that they are bound to collapse under scrutiny. I think Acacia is simply flinging as much crap at the wall as they can think of and praying for something to stick.

All data on the internet is made up of the same bits and bytes, You could easily write a program to read any random data, say a zip file or a Word document, and display it as video the same way a Winamp visualization plugin does for an MP3. Also, until the data is decompressed by some form of viewer, it is nothing. You can't prove a given file is an audio or video file until you play it. Data is not inherently a video or audio stream, it has to be interpreted as such by software on the receiving end. Data lines are just another method of transfer. If your surfer right-clicks and downloads a file, he is not streaming video. He is storing data for later use by a viewing program. The same goes for zipping up a video file. Now, is that data still a video? If you open a zip file in Realplayer, it won't work. What if you put the video on a disk and mail it to a customer? That has the same effect as a right-click save does. The video is not viewed in transit, it simply sent from one location to another for use at another time.

The patents are a joke. The problem is that every little lawsuit they win will be more precedent on their side. That's why we need strong and organized opposition to Acacia's blackmail.

SpaceAce

I wonder how Disney will feel about 2% extortion?

http://news.google.com/url?q=http://...3-5053552.html

Judging by the mainstreamers that have been hit, acacia is asking for a lot less than 2%

And he is only hitting small timers, not one of the bigger players in mainstream.

Regardless of how you think things went, the bottom line is what is needed to stop this extortion.

Instead of whining, do something to help everyones cause here by helping and supporting IMPA.

except the nasty little thing with patents is they can be selectively enforced. Acacia could choose to never fight the big guys, stick with the small players that cant afford the minimum 6 figure sums a patent lawsuit is going to cost.

best hope is if one of the big guys gets interested on their own and convinces a court to let them join an existing action.

They are fighting the big players in this industry.

The big players have formed the IMPA.

They have hired Fish & Richardson to represent this case against Acacia and are currently accepting donations on behalf of the small players that can't afford the minimum 6 figure sums of a patent lawsuit.




Is it me or does it seem like half of the people making comments about this situation just got back from a 12 month vacation to Mars?

That is a good question for the IMPA though:

How would one go about joining the IMPA's fight directly?

For example some of the people who have gotten packets or letters, maybe they would like to joih the IMPA's defense directly instead of just help.

Is this possible?

They have NOTHING without a judges sig...

Serge wrote:

"mrthumbs,
in the world according to the big guys,
it would be nice and dandy if 10 of them had paysites and the rest of you send traffic and just be affiliates...and Acacia is there possible way to achieve it
;-)))

I understand why they settle,
it makes all sense to them"

That's how it looks to me too, best thing that could ever happen for them as long as the entry bar remains high enough (and $1,500 isn't bad for the first round).

ayj

U.S. Patent numbers:

5,132,992
5,253,275
5,550,863
6,002,720
6,144,702

Wake up.


And speaking of sigs...

yea and cohen had a trademark on 'sex' :1orglaugh

where is Larry Flynt when you need him.... :helpme

50+1

Probably sitting comfortably as his lawyers are waiting for the day that they receive their little packet, so they can turn Acacia into a parking lot.

You are not the sharpest tool in the conspiracy shed.

Its pretty easy to see that for big guys like CE, settling is win-win, you dont even have to reach into any conspiracy theory or anything.

The very simple truth is if Acacia wins (god forbid), they can get 6 years of retroactive payments against CE.

Now, try and imagine how much money CE made between 96 and 99. Get the picture?

Ok, so they settled and if Acacia win (i.e. common sense fails), acacia cant get back payments. So CE's happy to have cut a deal. Acacia looses, CE doesnt have to pay diddly squat. Again, they're happy they settled.

Its not that complicated.

Great theory and useless. Stick to designing.

You worked out that they will come unstuck up against all the big boys. So can you give me one good reason why they go after them? These guys are lawyers and been through patent litigation in court. And got beaten, so what makes you think they are going to take on the big boys again and get beaten again when all they have to do is bleed us dry?

This is the time for the big players in the porn to step up to the plate and fight this. Acacia's plan is simple. "We have a legal patent, which if you want over turned will cost you more in court than we will charge you for the license" Assuming they go after 1% at a time and a group like IMPA stays small.

They are truing to bring down IMPA in court by saying they are a conspiracy. Again another excuse to get us into court and get us to spend money.

Would they be attacking the porn industry if they knew they were up against a united front? Or are they thinking we will sit and wait for them to sue Microsoft?

Acacia must have assumed that juries and judges will not be sympathetic toward the adult industry. I agree when someone said, where's Larry Flynt?

Content won't be admissable in this court case. The validity of their patent has NOTHING to do with the content, and if that factor enters into the decision it will be an automatic grounds for appeal.

good point

In fact - HomeGrown - I'm sure your attorneys are aware of that, and I'm not an attorney. But I'd avoid at all costs having the adult industry associated with the suit, including removing company names and video names from all records.

A motion to have the fact that Acacia are suing the adult industry participants and the fact it is adult video blocked from proceedings has already been dismissed - so Acacia have won that one. I would have to think that is why they now want a jury trial.

again, I'm not an attorney.

But that's not what I'm saying . . . what I am saying is not to try to get a dismissal, but to keep the adult content issue completely out of the trial.

In laymen's terms - don't let them introduce any "fucking" evidence as evidence :Graucho

It has been well over a year since I read my package but there was a statement to the effect that if you paid by a certain date there was one charge...if you waited till they won the court case and then they charged you it would be significantly higher. I could see someone very interested in settling now... remember too the main advice even from impa is to check with your lawyer... and guess what fantasyman's lawyer said....

Of interest is that Acacia does not own the patent for all this in canada... I do hope that the judges that hear the case and any appeals will have the sense to get some education on the internet if they dont already...and...whats the odds that they will...most are old dodgers no?

Also of note... the reporting requirements everyone has in their packages states that you must release to acacia all people doing business with you including affiliates... so does this mean fantasyman and any other settlers has already sent all that info to acacia?

I think I am going to get a patent on the process of getting patents.

instead of them picking off 1 person at a time.. can't everyone just put their money together and have 1 big case..everyone that pitches in some money.. have them represented in the case against them.. they don't even have to show up to be listed. once the judge throws that out.. they are all safe and can't be fucked with

if they go after 1 person at a time they will end up making money.. if there is 1 case.. with a few lawyers it would cost each person maybe a few thousand dollars and get this over with.. instead of 1 person having to pay 50,000$ or more for laywers

50K? lol

see sig

half of my family is lawyers.. they usually represent me for a steak dinner.. i wouldn't give my uncle more then 5k :1orglaugh

a patent case can easily cost over 1 M.

haha.

it's tiring to see the uneducated post here

donate the money to me.. so i can defend myself.. why do you want everyone to donate to you so you can save your ass.. if they go after everyone 1 by 1.. the money is only going to help you and no one else

(1) you're not donating to me. you can't be that stupid. can you?
(2) the big case is homegrown vs acacia, if homegrown wins, the patents will be invalidated, and EVERYONE wins. duh.
(3) i laugh each time i read your post. has your head been in the sand for the past year?

exactly, if we (the industry) win one case then they have less chance of winning again..

i still think there are a few big players/actors in the biz that would be happy to see the smaller guys knocked out by acacia :-)

Boring speech. Stick to taking pictures.

A few people send out some Acacia packages to a few of the larger mainstreamers on behalf of Acacia, and we got a ball game.

Theres articles about this somewhere - AVN I think.

This has already been raised. homegrown/impa have already brought a motion to have that information disallowed during the trial - it was dismissed.

So Acacia are allowed to introduce "fucking" evidence as evidence.
Im not a lawyer either, just going on what I have read.

you sound like an anti spammer just how you talk :(

I agree.

Send an Acacia packet via registered mail to CNN, ABC et al and bring this whole thing to light.

They might do it under the guise of protecting their own asses, but the bottom line is when most of these executives go home at night, they snap one off to internet porn. :thumbsup

Yeah right. And the industry losing 2% to Acacia per company matters to them how?

They're not going to fight this battle for us. Bullshit.

It would matter to them because it would set a precedent in the case.