Acacia Technologies Files Cable and Satellite TV

[Pornkings]

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 15, 2004--Acacia Research Corporation (Nasdaq:ACTG - News; Nasdaq:CBMX - News) announced today that its Acacia Media Technologies Corporation subsidiary has filed a Complaint in the District Court for the Northern District of California alleging infringement of Acacia's DMT patents against 9 cable and satellite companies. Companies named as defendants in the lawsuit include Comcast Corporation, Charter Communications, Inc., The DirectTV Group, Inc., Echostar Communications Corporation, Boulder Ridge Cable TV, Central Valley Cable TV, LLC, Seren Innovations, Inc., Cox Communications, Inc., and Hospitality Network, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox that supplies hotel in-room entertainment).

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040615/155220_1.html

[notjoe]

Originally posted by Pornkings
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 15, 2004--Acacia Research Corporation (Nasdaq:ACTG - News; Nasdaq:CBMX - News) announced today that its Acacia Media Technologies Corporation subsidiary has filed a Complaint in the District Court for the Northern District of California alleging infringement of Acacia's DMT patents against 9 cable and satellite companies. Companies named as defendants in the lawsuit include Comcast Corporation, Charter Communications, Inc., The DirectTV Group, Inc., Echostar Communications Corporation, Boulder Ridge Cable TV, Central Valley Cable TV, LLC, Seren Innovations, Inc., Cox Communications, Inc., and Hospitality Network, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox that supplies hotel in-room entertainment).

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040615/155220_1.html

Uh oh


Someone will lay the smack down now, for sure!

[freeadultcontent]

[RicardoB]

Good!

Maybe now they will get some real fireworks on their collective asses!

[WiredGuy]

Can't wait to see the outcome of this.
WG

[EZRhino]

Acacia is growing some balls I see, going after the big boys now

[TheJimmy]

Originally posted by WiredGuy
Can't wait to see the outcome of this.
WG

I'd almost agree, but it saddens me to think that most likely it will just be more 'business decisions' to 'lay down' again...

:/

[myneid]

Most likely they will all pay the licensing fee until there is a law to fight bogus patents.

Microsoft has already payed up.

[notjoe]

Originally posted by myneid
Most likely they will all pay the licensing fee until there is a law to fight bogus patents.

Microsoft has already payed up.

I highly doubt M$ has paid licensing fees to them... IF anyone would fight them and have prior art hanging around i would say it is M$..

Prove me wrong and give us a legit website which reported on that choice.

[Lensman]

Speaking for someone who is fighting Acacia, this is GREAT NEWS.

[jm_247live]

This should get interesting

[FlyingIguana]

i'm sure microsoft wouldn't pay. they'd most likely just buy acacia

[lickmymonster]

hmmmm

[FightThisPatent]

Looks like the talks to convince the cable companies to license broke down. There were rumours before that the cable companies were pulling together to form their own defense group, looks like the rumour was true.


My two favorite "marketing" observations from Acacia is that they have $30+ million in the bank for litigation and that if Disney signed, a multi-billion dollar company, the patent must be valid.

So many Acacia lovers were waiting these last 2 quarters in hopes of seeing Comcast take a license after Disney... must be very disappointing for them to see that now these companies will band together and fight in court.

Because, as you know, the adult industry (Porn industry is now how Berman is referring to things.. interesting switch) was ONLY sued because they were unreasonable and wouldn't come to the table.

I guess the cable companies are being sued because they were unreasonable at the table in not wanting to pay the license.


Fight the Copy and Paste from my website!

[airpal]

These boys are going to learn their lesson the hard way, messing with the likes of Directv/Comcast. Someone high up in some of these corporations is going to take this personally, and unleash their army of lawyers against Acacia. I bet lawyers everywhere must be salivating to fight this case!

I'm thinking exactly what notjoe is thinking:
"Someone will lay the smack down now, for sure!"

[JSA Matt]

Holy shit... how did Time Warner avoid this list? Maybe they already settled?

[Catalyst]

some just need to burn that company

[JSA Matt]

bump for people not here to see would you hit it threads.

[FightThisPatent]

On the recently filed lawsuits against the cable industry, some interesting news gleamed from a recent court doc (http://www.fightthepatent.com/v2/CableGuys.pdf).

From the court doc:

"Acacia has not yet served the summons or complaint in the newly-filed action on any of the defendants. Acacia has learned today that defendants Comcast has filed a declaratory relief action against Acacia in the District of Delaware. Acacia intends to seek to dismiss, or in the alternative, transfer that case to this Court. Except for Comcast, Acacia does not intend to serve the summons and complaint on any of the defendants for at least thirty days to provide time for Acacia to commence or continue patent licensing discussions with each of those defendants."



So Acacia tried to get cable companies to come to the table, they don't see eye to eye, then they file a lawsuit, and then they hold off on summoning them so they can do more discussions?

Great marketing tactics.... It seems the cable guys are just as "unreasonable" as the Adult Industry Defendants.

What's also interesting with the cable lawsuit is that it proves the ridiculousness of their filing for a class action lawsuit for only porn companies.

The recent lawsuit filed against the cable companies clearly shows that everyone is infringing, so there should just be this one huge class that lumps everyone in.. including Microsoft, Real, and Apple.

With the conclusion of the Markman Hearing by the end of July, expect the licensing machine to be running on overdrive to "convince" companies to license the patent before the bottom drops out.






Fight the Timeout!

[Matt M]

I hope they fight, and dont just settle. But I fear Acacia will get them to settle for nothing, just to get another notch in their belt.

[badmrfrosty]

Can anyone say, buy their stock while its at $3?

BMF

[FightThisPatent]

Originally posted by Matt M
I hope they fight, and dont just settle. But I fear Acacia will get them to settle for nothing, just to get another notch in their belt.

I found this from a Streaming Media elearning listserv:

"Acacia is seeking licensing fees of $1.25 per home per year for cable subscribers to video-on-demand services; $1 per home per year for digital cable subscribers and 50 cents per home per year for analog cable subscribers."


Here is the list of 9 cable/satellite companies being sued:

Comcast Corporation, Charter Communications, Inc., The DirectTV Group, Inc., Echostar Communications Corporation, Boulder Ridge Cable TV, Central Valley Cable TV, LLC, Seren Innovations, Inc., Cox Communications, Inc., and Hospitality Network, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox that supplies hotel in-room entertainment)



I don't think they are going to settle... just look at the giants that are in this list.


Fight the Moby Dicks!