JR
11-25-2003, 04:26 PM
http://thedaily.washington.edu/news.lasso?...&-Token.Count=7 (http://thedaily.washington.edu/news.lasso?-database=DailyWeb.fp5&-layout=List&-response=newspage.lasso&-recordID=33914&-search&-Token.Count=7)
UW braces for streaming-media royalty trouble
by Andrew Sengul
11/25/2003
A little-known company called Acacia Research has recently demanded royalty payments for the use of streaming media, a common Internet technology. While the company has not yet targeted the UW, other universities have been contacted, and University Computing & Communications (C&C) personnel are keeping an eye on legal options.
Acacia claims that it holds a patent on streaming media, a term that refers to all real-time transmission of audio and video over the Internet, and its typical demands have been for 1 percent to 2 percent of the revenue an organization earns from streaming media. While Acacia’s initial efforts were directed toward online pornography sites and companies like Radio Free Virgin and ioMedia.com, it has recently begun to pursue settlements from universities.
In the case of educational institutions, the company’s claim to a portion of streaming-related revenue would apply to all student fees used to fund online streaming media and all tuition paid to attend classes that use streaming media for instruction.
Professors at the University of Virginia and the University of Oregon, which have been contacted by Acacia, have stated that such a requirement would cripple their instructional capabilities.
“We’ve looked into the patent and passed it on to the Attorney General’s office,” said Jim DeRoest, the assistant director of C&C. “If we were approached by Acacia, the UW attorneys would defend us in court.”
Streaming is a simple but efficient way of broadcasting audio and video files across the Internet. A file meant to be streamed is compressed, stored on a server and then sent to external systems piece by piece. On the receiving end, the pieces are re-assembled and played in order.
The technology’s main advantage lies in the fact that the entire file does not need to be present on the receiving computer for playback to begin. Also, Web sites that provide streaming content can do so without allowing users to permanently save audio and video files on disk.
UWTV, which provides online access to video media produced by faculty, has more than 2,000 hours of video available for streaming, and streams an average 10,000 hours of material every month.
Research Channel, an online video repository shared by the UW and other major research universities, has more than 1,800 hours of video on demand. No one has attempted to tally the total amount of streaming media whose production has been funded by University money.
Acacia holds five patents granted between 1992 and 2000. According to many information-technology experts, these include no specifics on how streaming media would be implemented, simply describing a system for transmitting compressed media files over a computer network.
The company made no attempt to capitalize on its patents during the Internet boom of the 1990s, and has thus far refrained from approaching RealNetworks, Microsoft and other major players in the streaming-media industry.
UW braces for streaming-media royalty trouble
by Andrew Sengul
11/25/2003
A little-known company called Acacia Research has recently demanded royalty payments for the use of streaming media, a common Internet technology. While the company has not yet targeted the UW, other universities have been contacted, and University Computing & Communications (C&C) personnel are keeping an eye on legal options.
Acacia claims that it holds a patent on streaming media, a term that refers to all real-time transmission of audio and video over the Internet, and its typical demands have been for 1 percent to 2 percent of the revenue an organization earns from streaming media. While Acacia’s initial efforts were directed toward online pornography sites and companies like Radio Free Virgin and ioMedia.com, it has recently begun to pursue settlements from universities.
In the case of educational institutions, the company’s claim to a portion of streaming-related revenue would apply to all student fees used to fund online streaming media and all tuition paid to attend classes that use streaming media for instruction.
Professors at the University of Virginia and the University of Oregon, which have been contacted by Acacia, have stated that such a requirement would cripple their instructional capabilities.
“We’ve looked into the patent and passed it on to the Attorney General’s office,” said Jim DeRoest, the assistant director of C&C. “If we were approached by Acacia, the UW attorneys would defend us in court.”
Streaming is a simple but efficient way of broadcasting audio and video files across the Internet. A file meant to be streamed is compressed, stored on a server and then sent to external systems piece by piece. On the receiving end, the pieces are re-assembled and played in order.
The technology’s main advantage lies in the fact that the entire file does not need to be present on the receiving computer for playback to begin. Also, Web sites that provide streaming content can do so without allowing users to permanently save audio and video files on disk.
UWTV, which provides online access to video media produced by faculty, has more than 2,000 hours of video available for streaming, and streams an average 10,000 hours of material every month.
Research Channel, an online video repository shared by the UW and other major research universities, has more than 1,800 hours of video on demand. No one has attempted to tally the total amount of streaming media whose production has been funded by University money.
Acacia holds five patents granted between 1992 and 2000. According to many information-technology experts, these include no specifics on how streaming media would be implemented, simply describing a system for transmitting compressed media files over a computer network.
The company made no attempt to capitalize on its patents during the Internet boom of the 1990s, and has thus far refrained from approaching RealNetworks, Microsoft and other major players in the streaming-media industry.