| Manu C 2005-05-03, 5:45 pm |
| It seems Acacia has a strong claim for a patent established back in 1991 or
so. The patent is for all forms of (non-live) audio and video streaming. For
what I haved researched, it is yet to be determined by the court if the
patent is only a concept or a real process, because of the broad description
of the patent (Internet was not even what it is back then). Also, they have
gotten some bad publicity because they are a "patent buying" company with a
history of lawsuits. Acacia's claim has been called a "crime against the
public domain," a "laughably broad patent" and "an infringement campaign
that threatens to chill freedom of expression."
I found this site has some important information on this issue:
http://www.streamingmedia.com/patent/
I am glad it does not cover live streaming, since we are dealing with that
now:
http://www.acaciatechnologies.com/t...y_corporate.htm
I read they attacked the porn industry and some other small companies first,
asking for as much as 2% of your gross revenues if you even have a small
video on your site (Disney and Virgin are already paying Acacia for what
I've read). They seem to be starting to make ground so they have a strong
presence when dealing with the big boys out there (Microsoft, Real Networks,
Macromedia, etc...). I am still confident they will not get far... Well
that's me...
Please join the fight against these absurd attempt to convert our internet
streaming in to a monopoly. Visit this site for more information on how to
help:
http://fightthepatent.com/v2/About.html
Manuel Oblitas
PS: I am not affiliated with either figththepatent.com or
streamingmedia.com. I am just a bit nervous to hear news like these...
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