As I recall from his Dmoney interview, Berman specifically said that there are no refunds if the patent winds up getting invalidated. The corporate view as a public company is --- tough shit!

:feels-hot

I asked this question about getting money back if the patent is found invalid to the General Counsel for New Frontier, and he said that it was in the licensing agreement..., they have to put that in the agreement, otherwise it would be a big no-no.

He also chuckled at the amount that they paid for the licensing, being a sweetheart deal i am sure.... i didn't get the figure.

Fight the Patent!

Did he name companies and patents?

They are probably comparing patents and percentages that are irrelevant to this case.

If you have a patent on a small part that is used in automobile manufacturing, you cannot ask Ford for 6-10% of their gross sales. It simply does not happen in business that way.

There are a countless patents in the world, yet there are few companies in the entire world who would ever consider giving up 10% of their gross income.

I would be interested in knowing the names of a few companies who give up over 8% of their gross income to a single patent holder on a patent that is not the central part of their business.

Good lawyers would not allow it to happen.

here is a link to the article, at the very bottom is where he throws out he 6-10% figure...


http://ynotnews.ynotmasters.com/issu...203/page2.html

maybe he went to some patent licensing convention and this was their hot topic, about how much should/can they charge without seeming unreasonable.... :Graucho

We have been on the Forbes website, other various business/tech site articles, plus our adult press. Tech TV did an interview.

Without going into great detail, we have gotten noticed and we have made some powerful allies that know Acacia and have the same problems that we have with them. We continue to try and get the word out and draw attention to what is happening.

No big mainstream companies want to "get into bed" publicly with the adult industry, but that does not mean that they don't pay attention and realize the potential here. Nor does it mean that they will make the same "business decision" that those other companies made in spite of saying that they do not believe the patents to have merit.

You might be surprised at how many of the big companies will pay these greed mongers at the request of their attorneys..

Just as some big companies will settle law suits out of court; paying a good chunk o' change just to end the fiasco and not spend more in court....

Since we're working in a suite of paysites, I asked my lawyer about this and I've shown him all the material I've found at fightthepatent.com. He was very surprised about this and was going to make a consultation to a patents specialist, but at simple sight cannot even understand that US juries overpass all contractual laws. More or less, when you purchase something, it's a contract agreement, and buy/sell of goods contracts implies the selling of the good (or service) "as is" unless otherwise noticed. So, if there's something wrong, the full responsability goes to the seller of the product or service since he/she didn't advice the buyer in a written contract and the buyer adquires full rights on a "bona fide" basis. In short: I buy a video, I buy a PC, I buy a server or whatever... unless there's an Acacia (or whatever bullshit) paragraph or advice of any kind, I'm not responsible at all. That's what I understood from my lawyer, and even when he'll research a little more with proper specialists, the law of contracts is a basic principle in any legal system based in Roman Right, which is the base of the Western laws. Something as absurd as Acacia claims will end with all the securities provided by contracts since there will be a precedent that anyone can ask for money or even your own business without your knowledge (not to mention consent).

On another note, if this bulshit goes on, I can see most US Internet companies flying away off US, since Acacia only reachs some countries, not all, so I imagine when US politicians see this they will say "put some concrete shoes on these Acacia boys and drawn them in the Hudson" :Graucho

And a final note: why US webmasters, instead of becoming board warriors don't become real life civic right fighters? Just ask your representatives to stop this, go together with media an dthings like this. Making a foundation (even tho it's a good cause) with 5000 dollars is not exactly what will save you :(

For the record, the numbers in my initial post were from Acacia's Content Provider License. A similar scenario for a webmaster goes like this... If you estimate that your annual earnings will be no more than $50,001-100,000 you'll pay a $3,000 annual royalty (ie 3-6% of your gross) IN ADVANCE. But if it turns out that your actual earnings for the year are $100,001 (ie just $1 over your estimate), Acacia will demand an additional $6,750, thus you'll be paying Acacia a total of $9,750 or 9.75% of your gross income! And Acacia says that they will be increasing their royalties from 1 December!

Here's a link to the full contract:

http://www.acaciatechnologies.com/pr...eAgreement.pdf

Hey ass clown ...
I'm donating my blogging time ...
I'm very good at getting attention and "stirring it up".

TIP: A good "blog" includes something the others can grab onto and blog back ...

Awesome post bud.
Hence - I'm here.

Fiddy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :BangBang:

Still an awesome post.
Fiddy diddy one ...

And you are still a mentally-retarded pedophile :321GFY

Even if the patent were upheld, no one with a lawyer will pay that.

Talk to a lawyer, he will laugh at most of what Acacia says, not just their patent.

Have you submitted your monthly sales report to Acacia yet?

Of course the lawyers are laughing! They'll be laughing all the way to the bank on the fees that they get from defending webmasters who are unable to strike a deal with Acacia!

Acacia is entitled to charge anything they like until a court tells them otherwise. How many webmasters can offord to argue their case in court? And what makes you think an amount mandated by a court will be an acceptable fee? And what about all the other patent leeches lining-up for a slice of your revenue?

; )

They can't charge you anything. They can ask you for 250% of your gross income. Only a judge can make you pay.

If you can't afford to pay for a lawyer, then you should not be in the adult industry. Acacia is the least of your problems if you can't afford a lawyer. Acacia can't put you in jail. The Justice department can.

If your lawyer thinks that Acacia is going to get 10% of anyone's gross, you need to get a new lawyer.

You need to support FTP or Impai ...
see sig

According to the Marketguide database, of the 37 publicly held print media companies of any consequence (market cap > $100 million), the weighted average profit margin is 5%, the max is 18%.

http://andrew_redux.blogs.com/redux/...lloi_bigo.html

Do you think that Acacia is going to get more from any company than the average profit margin of all major print media?

I think the whole thing smells bad - "Enron"bad.
Just fucking math.

A fucking stock scam ...IMO

So precisely how much is your lawyer estimating that he/she will charge you when Acacia takes you to court? Have you been advised that you may also have to pay Acacia's court costs?

And what makes you think that a court mandated settlement is going to be acceptable to you? And what's your bottom-line going to look like when you've been through the same process with all the other patent holders waiting in the wings?

I never suggested that Acacia was going to receive any specific amount. I merely suggested that the amounts that they are demanding are insane. Do you disagree?

YES ...
Have you submitted your monthly sales report to Acacia yet?

I agree that they are insane. http://www.gofuckyourself.com/images.../xyxthumbs.gif

No matter how much a law firm charges you, it won't be more than 10% of your gross for the rest of your life. Given a choice, would you rather go broke paying your lawyers or go broke paying Acacia?

"Acacia" marketing ...
this community is stronger then that ...
you guys can kill this....
be united for once ....

In my case I have decided to either (in order of preference):

1) put my business outside of Acacia's patent jurisdiction
2) negotiate an acceptable out of court settlement
3) remove videos from my business model.

I would only go to court as a last resort :2 cents:

1) I will not move my domains outside of US jurisdiction.
2) I will not report to Acacia.
3) I will not fix my website until this issue is settled.

Why are you still here?

let's not single out Acacia, there are plenty of other patent infringement cases that are out there and coming in the future that webmasters can go broke over.

Help support the current patent abuse cases and future patent abuse cases that will affect your business by pledging support to Fight The Patent Foundation.

http://www.FightThePatent.com/go



Fight The Patent!