Can Acacia REALLY get 6% from you after November??
 

I am hearing more and more from guys who are calling up Acacia to make a deal. IMO this is the same as trying to remove your email addy from a spam list. You just confirm who you are. Acacia is threatening to ask for 6% plus if they have to take guys to court. Well that is not up to them if it goes to court, that would be up to a judge. And any judge in his right mind would not let Acacia take a percentage of any companies gross, he would set it up so the company paid based on their income from VIDEOS, not the companies gross. I really think too many guys are reading too much from Acacias threats and not thinking this thru.

So if you paid 1% of your gross now without even fighting, or if you went to court and lost, lets say 5% gross from revenues from video, would you loose more money if you fought and held out till you went to court? Not really, not IMO.

Think it thru people, would a court make you pay royalties based on your gross or royalties based on video income? I would imagine the court is already urked at Acacia for seeking royalties based on gross income, not jsut royalties based on their "patented" product.

All of the above is nothing more than my humble opinion. I do not recomend people to do what I suggest or imply. Talk to a attorney.

How do you know whats your gross is from videos?

I suppose that is a figure that would be agreed upon by the petitioner and defendent. Normally after discovery and evidence is presented, etc, the litigants negotiate a settlemment before the case goes to trial. Not sure but I think that is how it works. Just because you are served and a lawsuit is intitiated, there are many steps left until a trial actually takes place. There are many opportunities to settle, dismiss, etc during the process BEFORE it goes to trial.

I'm not a attorney just repeating what I have heard. Talk to a attorney

Move your stuff to servers in europe (best netheralnds) and get offshore company (if you need it) on some island and say: Go fuck yourself mister Acacia :321GFY

I totally agree with this. I don't see why anybody would be settling with them right now just because they got the letter. Just because they are talking about upping the fees on Dec 1st, doesn't mean they are going to start taking anybody to court anytime soon (if ever). There are way too many people for them to take to court. The chances of them picking you, me or anybody anytime soon to go to court are pretty slim. Even if they do pick you, go ahead and settle if it's in the best interest of the company. Acacia doesn't want to go to court as much as everybody else. They're losing money also, each time they take someone to court.

I agree, even if the patents held up in court... there is no way they could charge a % of gross income if you make money in other ways then just video... I don't belive that would hold up in court.. they could charge what ever they wanted as far as % for income made using their "patents" (if they won) but they would have no legal leg to stand of for income comming from other means.

It's the same as telling Microsoft they have to pay a % of their gross sales because they have a few videos on their website.. would never stand up.

That is exactly what I have done - Bought a real nice set up with 100mpt dedicated line as a back up should any shit hit the fan - It works out way cheaper than giving this scum any cash -
Also - The cost of bandwidth is actually much cheaper than I am paying in the States -
Check out www.xxx.webhost.nl - They do off the shelf stuff or (as we have done) build to your specs.

Non Usa based webmasters will be hugely didadvantaged should Acacia take you to court - Think about the costs involved in having to travel to usa and sort out lawyers etc!

exacty right.

IF you are dragged into court and IF acacia does have a valid patent a court will decide what is a "fair" penalty for both past "infringement" and licensing fee, and it WILL NOT be based on gross income---it will be based on your % of content that applies to their "patent".

of course this is worst case scenario.

it is EASY to determine a fairly exact percentage of your gross that is attributable to their patent.

just take a look at your server logs.

BUT, before anyone gets too exacted about any of this take a look at the big picture for acacia.

even with some money in the bank they are going to have a lot of irons in the fire shortly.

RIGHT NOW:

1. new prior art finds are happening as we speak----the geeks are now involved finding tech stuff that lawyers don't even understand yet.

2. acacia has noticed universities and colleges---including Stanford and Harvard, and the universities have indicated that they WILL NOT be settling with acacia.

3. a sales piece information letter is not legal service of anything. legal service first requires certain procedure---usually a CEASE and DESIST complaint and monetary demand sent by certified mail or process server, then a summons and complaint sent by certified mail or delivered by process server.

4. do not fear the process---the best approach to dealing with acacia is to show up in court with an armload of prior art and demand a jury trial, then file a cross complaint against acacia. indicate to them immediately when you are sued that you will be answering them and demanding a jury trial; I suspect that (if you are are small webmaster) and they know you will be demanding a jury trial they will abandon their attempt---acacia DOES NOT WANT their "patent" scrutinized too much by ordinary jurors who currently are downloading video off the net themselves.

5. DO NOT accept a default judgment because you don't answer them.

6. They have to serve you and sue you on your home turf---if you are a small webmaster outside of California (who makes less than 100k/year) it is very unlikely that you will actually be sued by acacia. It is not cost effective for them.

If this was about being fair then what shoudl happen is that they should get feeling for what % of the site is video and award 1% of the % of video on the site.

From my understanding, if a trial is initiated, and their patent is held valid, Acacia and the respondant would agree upon a percentage. If they do not agree then the judge would make the decision.