AOL sells out to ACACIA

[gonzo]

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — As the case against a group of online adult companies continues in federal court over digital media transmission, Acacia Research Corp. has settled litigation in a separate case over electronic message advertising against America Online.


Acacia this week said its Creative Internet Advertising Corp. division licensed several patents to AOL to settle litigation between the two companies.
Acacia’s patent on electronic message advertising, U.S. Patent No. 6,205,432, relates to the software, methods and systems used to insert, transmit and display background images and graphics into instant-messaging skins and email backgrounds.

According to patent “432,” “the advertisement itself, often a graphical file, is preferably not transmitted with the message but is typically stored at the message server or other location remote from the end-user recipient.”
Acacia filed suit in July against AOL and Yahoo over the “skins” technology it claims it owns. The suit against Yahoo still stands.
Calls to AOL and Acacia counsel Eric M. Albritton went unreturned at press time.

Acacia’s separate case against the group of online adult companies reaches back to 2002, when Acacia began sending out media packets asserting that the companies were violating patents associated with its digital media transmission technology, which Acacia claimed covered virtually any manner of transmitting and receiving digital and audio content over the Internet. Although Acacia was able to secure settlements from a number of adult companies, other companies fought back, and eventually coalesced into the united Adult Defense Group effort