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:) While i always have my sense of humor and wit about me, i still have the same pissed off feeling that i had when i first heard about Acacia and started up FightThePatent.com back on August 12th. The more i research and learn about other patent abuse cases in addition to Acacia, the more it should make me cynical and want to just give up. I have become an Activist, something that i never thought i would do. I enjoy my privacy and my life, and i have enough professional and personal interests already to keep me busy... but this seems to be my calling... i have been directed to do this work, to stick my neck out and fight against what i believe is wrong. People who are activists fall into three categories in my observations: They start out being Idealistic, that they can "change the world". Then once they get into the movement, they become more Realistic as to how the world works, how people behave/react, etc. Then after being in the trenches awhile, you become cynical for those that don't believe or support in what you are doing, despite your best attempts at fighting for them. I am a realist, i am a business man, but I hope that my sense of humor and my good conscious will always keep me in the Idealistic category as an Activist. A movement is more about just one person, it's about a group of people who have shared common believes, shared drive, and the shared sense of values at what they are pissed off about. If you are frustrated at all of these current and future patent issues, channel that energy to support FTPF..... by forming FTPF, i am saying that I am dedicating a good portion of my life and time to fighting for issues that affect so many.. .otherwise, i could be just like everyone else, and focus on my own professional and personal activities. Fight the Patent! |
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And when you make that pledge, i'll update the counter with the new number :) I ask on the pledge form if you want your name/company name to be made public on an endorsement page, with the default setting to NO. Many have pledged their support and have put the YES.. i haven't made a page for it yet, but I will in the future. I respect people's privacy and their wishes to contribute without being made public. I am also not accepting any money at this time, only the pledges. I learned from my own dot-bomb that i founded and floundered about not taking money in from investors piece by piece. This time around, i would rather have a minimum goal to be reached, that is sufficient to handle a budget of expenses and execution of the plan, along with a great mandate from a large group of people to go forward and execute on the vision. In addition to the the money raised from this Pledge Drive (assuming the goal is met), part of the execution of the plan will be to go to mainstream and solicit for donations from the big players to get alot more money to go into FTPF's warchest. By already having money in the warchest and forming a 501c3 organization, i can attract highly respected and visible names from top tech/internet companies to be on the Board of Directors, and to be able to accept donations from large companies who may not be named in any Acacia lawsuit, but might find this as a way that they could be involved in the fight. Acacia is just one visible target, there are so many, even in the audio/video space.. so FTPF is not fighting Acacia, it's about all patent abuse cases that directly affect webmasters ability to run their business and innovators like me, that are affected by broad patent infringement claims. Fight the Patent! |
Let me throw out some food for thought:
In this article: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1310572,00.asp Microsoft is changing IE to not use embeded plugins like Flash, etc due to Eolas Patent. With a $531M judgement, you would think they would just buy the patent out and move on... But what if, they remove the plugin ability to comply with the court judgement, then bought the patent, and then CHARGED all plugin makers a license to work within IE. Think about it conspiracy heads, IE has market dominance as the #1 browser being used (stats to my website show like 97% use IE). Netscape is out of the picture, Opera is a novelty, and unix and Mac users just don't have the numbers.... So M$ can now make money off of a free product by charging the plugin makers...rather than charging the consumers like Netscape tried to do. I am sure the DOJ would have a field day with this one, if this conspiracy true proved to be true... Other than that, the Eolas patent issue on plugins in a browser is very damaging to the web.. if M$ is just going to remove that function, then the web has taken a step backwards. External programs can still be triggered (ie. media player, etc).. but i believe there is a patent out there for the triggering of an external program from another program........ UGGGGGGG..... Fight the Patent! |
For tech heads, M$ has posted info on working around the patent issue:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/ieupdate/activexchanges.asp Fight the Patent! |
just posted, AVN article on Fight The Patent Foundation:
http://www.avnonline.com/issues/2003...101003_8.shtml Fight the Patent! |
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With the press you are going to get, you should register fightthepatents.com too. :)
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I was originally going for FightThis.com would have been funny, but it was taken.... And like your post, the suggestion could have been to register FightThese.com :Graucho Fight the Patent! |
Thanks Brad
I think what a lot of do not realize is the financial benefits to the companies paying the license and them with the patents to reduce this market down to 100 players. The first thing to disappear will be the affiliates, why pay out 33% of your membership revenue to people if there are only 100 players with videos? Search engines will work fine. Then there is very little competition instead of sharing members with 2,000 sites you will be sharing with 100 sites. This will make it worthwhile for those with the licenses to make sure the patent holders enforce it. URL registration, hosting, CC processing and then upservers. Making sure you cannot operate or do business in any country where they can enforce the patent. Then the 100 companies left will be fighting amongst themselves to reduce the number of license holders. So every year they can bid for the license, they can pledge to pay what ever they think it is worth to be in the Adult Internet Video market, the patent holders could decide the want 80 license holders paying a higher percentage than the 100. Remember we have not lost a single surfer. These companies are going to be huge they will be back in the days of the beginning, except now there will be 100 times the surfers. Sounds like the sky is falling in doesn't it? Well this is worse case scenario and just my opinion. How can you ensure your companies survival? Well you can sign up for the license, but if the patent is invalidated be sure that those who held out will never let anyone forget it and in a business where trust is a lot this will be a big hammer to beat you with. Or you can join the fight and support, with a donation, those who have taken the gamble, gone out on a limb and are fighting these patents. Or you can sit back and let others do you fighting and hope not a lot of other people do the same as you do. Or you can give $35 a month and blow Acacia out of the water and teach the next to companies with similar patents that we are not to be messed with. Bringing this industry together as one fighting force. |
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I ICQed the threads to all on my contacts list, one guy came back to ask what it had to do with him as he does not sell videos or even content. He's a third party processor with 60% of his business in the adult world. If my worse case scenario is right he is fucked becasue no the big guys with 75% of the industry will have their own merchant accounts, direct from Visa and their own hosting. The middle men in this business. like hosting, 3rd party, traffic, design and even content will take a massive hit. Most will die off. |
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One could almost chalk the idea that the big players who are settling with Acacia are doing so to knock out competitors as a conspiriacy theory, but given some astute observations, it does not sound so far off. Combine this with the fact that some industry players have patents and have patents-pending that you can now see that patents can be used to reduce competition... afterall, that's kinda what the patent means...... The original intent of the patent system was to allow inventors to share their discoveries and inventions for all to read and learn to further technological progress [do you hear the patriotic music going in the background?] but then [music scratches to complete stop] businesses discovered that a patent can be used to shut out competitors and either make them pay to continue or shutdown. Henry Ford faced patent issues back in the day, so this current trend of patent infringement cases, is just history repeating itself over and over. These patent abuse cases will repeat themselves over and over, hence the need and the time to make a stand. Both FTPF and IMPA have it in their focus to fight against patent abuse cases. FTPF has the altruistic method of getting experts to come forward to participate, rather than trying to seek them out individually (yes, this will be done as well, but having broader exposure certainly helps alot to uncover the prior art). FTPF touches upon a grassroots effort to get people, who may have the silver bullets to invalidate a patent claim, involved in the fight. Believe me, it's not easy to get someone to come forward to help... i have spent hours and hours in emails, phone, and fax to get to people to get their attention, even calling them at their home numbers to get their attention. There is a great synergy between IMPA and FTPF efforts, but our charters are very different, but we have some strong common traits that makes us great contributors to the side of fighting against bad patents. Fight the Patent! |
Quick Acacia Summary:
Acacia has patents in several international countries, so this ain' a US-specific absurdity: http://www.acaciatechnologies.com/patents.htm Information abou their licensing structure for webmasters and content producers is here: http://www.acaciatechnologies.com/te...t_adultent.htm A way that you can fight against all patent abuse cases like Acacia is here: http://www.FightThePatent.com/go Fight the Patent! |
Sponsors and Content Producers, I am creating an email for you to present my observations about your issues with Acacia's patent (ie. licensing). While I can't give you a definitive answer to do or don't license it, I can give you some things to consider when making your personal and professional decision.
I have had several already contact me, and I feel it is good informaiton to share in email, rather than posting. I will be starting a campaign this week to contact all Content Producers and Sponsors... if you want to get on the list faster to receive my thoughts on these issues, email me at: brandon -at- fightthepatent.com Fight the Patent! |
FightThisPatent,
Goal = $250,000 Pledged = $5,700 That?s a bit of a gap! What are your realistic chances of getting anywhere close to your target? |
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Yes, a very big gap indeed... i have had many people tell me before the Pledge Drive started, that i realistically won't reach the goal, since most webmasters don't care, are ignorant of the issues, don't know about the issues, are cheap, are frugal, etc, etc. I believe that there is a sense of community despite the big players settling, and probably more so because the big players have settled. Getting $5,700 in pledge since the launch of the pledge drive on Wednesday is not bad at all... granted, the pace does need to pick up. I may have tapped out on what awareness and pledges I can generate from the boards, so I am complementing my message with an email campaign to sponsors and content producers... to give them my observations about the patent and the licensing issues, and to get their support with either pledges and/or helping to spread the word to their customers by passing on an email message from FTPF. The Pledge Drive is also in conflicts with IMPA's donation efforts. While Spike and Far-L understand there is great synergy between the organizations and we both are fighting for the same causes and on the same sidees, that donations/pledges to either side, takes away from the other. I am not accepting any money from any webmasters until the pledge drive goal has been reached. I can't fight to defend webmaster's rights if they don't want to be defended and don't support those that do. Activism takes money, especially given my approach to getting mainstream experts and prior art to come forward to want to help invalidate the patents. Being a businessman and a realistic thinker, I am still optimistic that I the community will come together and the goal of pledging at least $250,000 will be reached. I am willing to try and push, willing to sacrifice my personal and professional time to ensure that prior art is found and that all websites are able to have audio or video on their websites. You can learn more about Fight the Patent Foundation at http://www.FightThePatent.com/go Fight the Patent! |
Two things come to mind at this point:
1. Not quite sure how splitting the fund raising affects the focus on IMPA. 2. The lack of pledges would initially indicate that a lot of the bigger companies are planning to settle as soon as a palatable way to do this can be found. The run-up to end of the announced grace period is going to be very interesting. |
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indeed... companies are faced with the hard business decision to accept the patent license now, or fear to have to pay more after the "amnesty" date has passed. I believe that Nov. 30th is the date. Sponsors and Content Producers can email me at: brandon -at- FightThePatent.com and I will send you an email that summarizes my observations in respect to the decision to be made. I will be contacting all sponsors and content producers myself, but if you want to get a jump on the information, email me and i can respond with the message. Fight the Patent! |
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The problem is the smart webmasters are setteling. The stupid ones don't even know whats going on and have their heads up their asses or burried in the sand. The "fight for the principal of the thing / common good" crowd is going to wind up with a huge bill, win or lose. If the patent is invalidated, expect a lengthy appeal process and all those companies that chose to settle suing acacia to get out of their agreement and saying "thanks for doing our dirty work". |
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I wouldn't say that.. i would say the webmasters with stupid IP/Patent attorneys are settling, and the ones that have smart IP/Patent attorneys are fighting. None of the big players have contacted me to get my opinion on the matter, nor what prior art I could present to them to make some kind of informed decision. I have never claimed to be an expert in patent law, but it doesn't take a JD degree and passing the patent exam to figure out that if someone is out there talking to experts and finding prior art as reported on a website that has been highly publicized on message boards and easily found on Google searches, that, that's the person you want to talk to. I agree, there are alot of webmasters who have no clue about what is going on and they sit there and post on GFY looking for the next video content to put up..... Fight the Patent! |
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The Pledge Drive seems to have hit a speed bump...was doing so well there for a while....
Any ideas on ways to get webmasters interested to pledge? I am thinking maybe a raffle approach, where a $100 contribution "buys" a ticket.. it's gotta be something pretty cool.... maybe something like some big music star doing a shout-out for the winner of the raffle.......i'll have to dig into my connections into the music biz to see what's available Fight the Patent! |
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Acacia already has their own list.. it's called Press Releases...everytime they signup a company, they issue a PR statement...check out the list of who's who of licensing Acacia's patent: http://www.acaciatechnologies.com Fight the Patent! |
Charly made a great conspiracy theory post that could be very realistically possible.
The idea is that Acacia could be convinced by the big players that signed to not bother going after licensing deals with adult webmasters, and just stop everyone from using their patents, and focus on the large mainstream fish. While they could certainly do that, i still hold to my theory on their strategy to get like 100,000 websites to license their patent for a minimum of $1,500/year, which brings the yearly revenue stream to $150 million dollars. yowsa... Fight the Patent! |
bump...see post above.. interesting conspiracy theory
Fight the Patent! |
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may I suggest you post like this ... Hustler.com just signed up ... Vivid as well ... What - "more well known" - companies is Acacia now bragging about? We all know it is just math. Easier to settle and go on with their daily tasks of business - then in it is to go to court. See the following link ... for others that have taken the easy "math" way out ... ??? |
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That should do, for starters. |
:glugglug
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Holly, i apologize for any past, past-life, present, future, or future-self things that I had/have/or will do to piss you off... I don't think anyone would want to be in SE's place given the R rating of your text trailer for your upcoming movie. :1orglaugh Fight the Patent! |
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