Fight the Patent Foundation

[FightThePatent]

Hello all,

All the work that I have been doing in the last 60 days to bring awareness and find prior art has come to this fine moment of presenting to the adult webmaster the community, the opportunity to form a unique organization, a non-profit (501c3) entity whose focus is to help defendants in patent abuse cases find prior art evidence and expert witnesses, as well as to help invalidate bad patents directly with the USPTO.

More info here: http://www.FightThePatent.com/go

[FightThePatent]

Thanks for the pinning Serge, u rock!


Fight the Patent!

[Winetalk.com]

I beleive that patent shit is more dasngerous than Visa now a days

[FightThePatent]

Originally posted by Serge_Oprano@Oct 9 2003, 07:04 AM
I beleive that patent shit is more dasngerous than Visa now a days

now there's a war cry:

Fight the Patent! Because this patent shit is more dangerous than Visa.

[Sausage]

As I have always stated ... if this patent works out for Acacia, then the next wave of 20 or so patents will start flying in, and after that the net will start to become unusable.

then again as Serge pointed out on GFY, he owns the pantent for Internet2.

[confucy]

Thanks, Fight The Patent, for your good work. Acacia is a monster and must be stopped. Do you have a url for all the porn webmasters and non-porn businesses who have signed with Acacia?

[FightThePatent]

Originally posted by confucy@Oct 9 2003, 08:46 AM
Do you have a url for all the porn webmasters and non-porn businesses who have signed with Acacia?

I have not compiled a list, since it isn't my intent to look down on them for efforts of doing boycotts or public lynchings... you can find the names in all of the acacia PR and posts.... maybe someone else might want to track these and keep a FAQ running?


Fight the Patent! Because this patent shit is more dangerous than Visa.

[Mike AI]

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article...63&homepage=yes

Henry Ford faced same situation as this industry, and fought for 8 years.

[Far-L]

I have said it before and will say it again, Brandon's FTP has been a major help.

Thank You!

[JR]

what is the patent and what are they trying to license exactly?

is it people who are streaming feeds via Real or Windows media format? or something else... or what?

just for streaming video in general? for what exactly?

i have never been clear on this. how can they go after people who make money for streaming feeds and not go after the people who create all the software which makes it possible? if they can/should be targeting those companies, what is being done to force those companies who make and sell those technologies to take a position on this issue?

[FightThePatent]

Originally posted by JR@Oct 9 2003, 11:41 PM
what is the patent and what are they trying to license exactly?

is it people who are streaming feeds via Real or Windows media format? or something else... or what?

just for streaming video in general? for what exactly?

i have never been clear on this. how can they go after people who make money for streaming feeds and not go after the people who create all the software which makes it possible? if they can/should be targeting those companies, what is being done to force those companies who make and sell those technologies to take a position on this issue?

All great questions.... alot of answers can be found at my website at http://www.FightThePatent.com

Acacia Research has a patent that they claim and interpret to mean owning the process to downloading/streaming of audio/video files from a (web) server.

Their patent doesn't cover live video streams... only pre-recorded ones.

You don't need a streaming server (ie. Windows Media, Real Media server, etc) to be infringing their patent.. any HTTP or FTP server can act as the method of transmission/delivery.

So if you have any audio or video on your website, or you link directly to any audio or video, then you are infringing upon their patent in their eyes.

You would think that they would just got after people who make the technology, but patent law allows them to target anyone who is using the patented idea without a license.

Think about it this way, instead of getting a few million from M$, Real, or Apple, why not find 100,000 websites that have audio/video, get them to pay the minimum licensing fee of $1,500 (more if you make over $50L/year)...this gets them $150 million dollars per year... pretty nice for a publicly traded company huh?

I got outraged over this news over 2 months ago, stopped my consulting and ventures to focus just on this.

Now my efforts are becoming more formalized in forming a non-profit organization called Fight The Patent Foundation.

Details of the entity and the pledge drive is at http://www.FightThePatent.com/go

I would encourage all webmasters who have audio or video on their website to pledge just $100 to help reach the goal of raising $250,000.

once the pledge goal is reached, then the pledge becomes a donation request. I don't collect any money until the goal has been reached.

Currently, over $5000 has been pledged by your fellow webmasters. You can view the updated totals on the website (http://www.FightThePatent.com/go)


Fight the Patent!

[JR]

thanks for your answers.

Think about it this way, instead of getting a few million from M$, Real, or Apple, why not find 100,000 websites that have audio/video, get them to pay the minimum licensing fee of $1,500 (more if you make over $50L/year)...this gets them $150 million dollars per year... pretty nice for a publicly traded company huh?

this is something i have made a point of already. BRING OTHERS INTO THE FIGHT.

this fight is a little too quiet for my tastes. When i see "Acacia" - i see stories about how they are succeeding. Where are all the stories about how they are failing?

when are people going to make them sweat a little?

Acacia is a publically held company. that is their single greatest weakness. they are held captive by opinions and attitudes of shareholders.

what would the attitude of the shareholders be when Apple, Microsoft, REAL Networks and others are foced to both comment on this issue publically and take a stand?

some people are suing them... thats awesome. perfect. ... so instead of that small little mention in AVN Online which few people on the planet read... why not pay for a full page ad in USA Today, or the Wall Street Journal? "Acacia will have to target Microsoft, REAL, Apple" would make a nice headline. turn some heads. get some mainstream publicity. make thier attorneys answer in public for thier actions and for their pilfering of 10's of millions of dollars of shareholders money.

[FightThePatent]

Originally posted by JR@Oct 10 2003, 06:34 AM

... so instead of that small little mention in AVN Online which few people on the planet read... why not pay for a full page ad in USA Today, or the Wall Street Journal? "Acacia will have to target Microsoft, REAL, Apple" would make a nice headline. turn some heads. get some mainstream publicity. make thier attorneys answer in public for thier actions and for their pilfering of 10's of millions of dollars of shareholders money.

Excellent point... and once Fight The Patent Foundation is able to successfully raise the $250,000 in the pledge drive, you will be hearing alot of noise...i will be looking to get the attention of the media because out of all of the madness involving patent abuse cases, up comes a non-profit organization whose charter is to fight against patent abuse cases.

Costs money to make noise or have a story that is interesting enough to get media attention.

Since starting the Pledge drive over 30 hours ago, we have $5,700 pledged from your peers.

Join in the fight, pledge a donation at http://www.FightThePatent.com/go



Fight the Patent!

[Far-L]

JR: Valid points, Brandon is certainly increasing awareness and one of our immediate goals is to hire a mainstream pr firm to start issuing press releases.

You have witnessed Acacia make a big splash announcing all the companies that settled and their injunctions.

A lot of pomp and circumstance signifying nothing.

They have a handful of licenses from BIG companies on which they are effectively making PENNIES. None of those companies believe in the merits of the patent as they have all made publicly clear. They have injunctions against companies that did not even show up in court to address the matter responsibly.

You have one small group of companies that are getting sued and that have chosen to fight rather than settle. Every day that goes by and brings us closer to court is a victory for us. All the other companies, both mainstream and adult, that are starting to take an interest in this and are not handing over licenses willy nilly are potential allies. Every time the judge postpones this, imo, she is doing us a favor.

Why?

Because I feel Acacia did not expect this. They are at a standstill. They can only get people to license, not because the patents are so good, but because they make a sweetheart deal to settle for pennies. Their investors are not oblivious to the problem either.

Acacia has been threatening to drop more lawsuits "next week" for MONTHS! Where are they?

This is slow. We are being methodical and we are doing things by "the book". Have patience though because there will be plenty of entertainment value before this is over.

We are getting the word out. We are not looking to bring others in by creating new adversaries. We are not going to stoop to the same misleading and bombastic methods as Acacia.



Last edited by Far-L at Oct 10 2003, 02:30 PM

[FightThePatent]

Just released, AVN article on Fight The Patent Foundation

http://www.avnonline.com/issues/200310/new..._101003_8.shtml



Fight the Patent!

[FightThePatent]

Sponsors and Content Producers, I am creating an email for you to present my observations about your issues with Acacia's patent (ie. licensing). While I can't give you a definitive answer to do or don't license it, I can give you some things to consider when making your personal and professional decision.

I have had several already contact me, and I feel it is good informaiton to share in email, rather than posting.

I will be starting a campaign this week to contact all Content Producers and Sponsors... if you want to get on the list faster to receive my thoughts on these issues, email me at:

brandon -at- fightthepatent.com


Fight the Patent!

[FightThePatent]

After 1 week of starting the Fight the Patent Pledge Drive, the total pledged as of this posting is $8,300. Still along way to go to $250,000, but i am driven to get to that goal.

Haven't seen any Opranonauts pledge......

I can say that out of the 4 boards that I am posting on, Oprano does have the best level of quality of posts so far concerning Acacia... unfortunately the masses that need to be reading this stuff, don't.

It has always been said to me that Oprano carries more of the elitist and more successfull webmasters....I hope that you will identify with my efforts to fight for all webmasters RIGHTS to have audio or video on their website and make a pledge at http://www.FightThePatent.com/go

The current pledge amout of $8,300 is not made up of 83 webmasters pleding $100 each... there are a couple of larger donations that make up that total.


Fight the Patent!

[Trev]

erm... no I don't think I will :P

[FightThePatent]

I found this quote in a patent email-list that i subscribe to:

-------------------
If society allows patents in areas where cumulative innovation is the dominant mode of innovation, then new innovators end up carying the weight of the giants instead. This is because they need to license prior innovations before marketing their own innovation, and that expense grows exponentially with innovation generation for complex products.

(this is so simple you could put it on a T-shirt ;*)

See "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Cumulative Research and the
Patent Law", J. Economic Perspectives, Vol 5, winter 1991, p. 27-41
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~scotch/giants.pdf


---------------------------


This is my reply, reposted here for your reading:




This is so true of Acacia Research's 2nd round of wielding a patent claim... first round with V-Chip, they got knocked down, but that was before they got companies to spend MILLIONS of dollars on "licensing their patent".

Round 2 is where they are making the broad claim to owning the process to downloading of audio or video from a website.

Acacia's attorneys cite that 150+ other patents reference their patent, as if that was some form of validation for the patent... more like the other patent holders citing all possible prior art as required by USPTO.

But Acacia's patent claims are like claiming to have a patent on a ball. Others may have a patent on a red ball. In this example, Acacia won't sue the patent of a red ball, but will sue not only the manufacturer of the red ball for patent infringement, but also the toy store that carries the red ball, for contributory infringement.

Patent Law allows them to do this... this is clearly patent abuse.

In real terms, Acacia is suing websites that have audio or video on their website.. they have yet to target companies like Microsoft, Real, or Apple for infringement.. these targets would fight back and tie them up on court. Based upon their failed V-chip patent, but successful licensing campaign, it seems to be the business model to throw a patent and some infringement letters at comanies who use the "alleged infringed patent" to "convince" them to license their patents.. using things like an "amnesty" cut-off date, where retroactive infringement fees could be accessed.

Most websites don't have the money to pay $10k-$35k to do the initial legal dance, so they have no choice but to license the patent. The kicker here, is that in the event the patent is invalidated by companies who do challenge the patent, they DON"T GET THEIR MONEY back from the license.

This kind of stuff really gets to me, that's why I started FightThePatent.com and my hopes to extend that work to Fight the Patent Foundation.

This is the new, new,new, new economy with the new kind of business plan. Get patents, get people to license the patents and bet that most won't be able to fight it, and will just settle. For those that do fight it, it gets stuck in court for years, but in the mean time, they collect licensing fees and continue to "convince" companies to license the patent.

This is wrong!

[FightThePatent]

For those who are more tuned to patent issues due to Acacia, you may have heard the news about Eolas winning a $531M judgement against Microsoft for infringing on their patent that involves the embedding of programs within a program (ie. running flash, audio players, etc in a web page)

This patent severly affects the way the web was intended to be used, and so the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) filed a petition with USPTO on October 23 for re-examination of the patent given the prior art that they found, that was not presented in M$ court case.

From this article:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/3969

"Apparently, the PTO responded to this request, saying "a substantial outcry from a widespread segment of the affected industry has essentially raised a question of patentability." This order, issued on October 30, reviewed the claims and declared that the prior art introduced by Berners-Lee and Raggett raised "a substantial new question of patentabity." The order, signed by Steve Kunin, Deputy Commissioner of the US PTO, called for a reexamination of all claims relating to the '906 patent. "

We can see that in 1 week's time, the re-examination request was granted... usually this process takes alot longer, but it does go to show how public outcry does work.

FightThePatent.com has a new PR person, a webmistress who is a journalist, and she has just finished the first Press Release. I am reviewing it now, and we will be making a push to get mainstream attention.

Filing a re-examination request with the USPTO over the Acacia issue is a plausible route as well....but there are 2 problems.

1) USPTO may hold off on the request due to pending litigation with current defendants, or may interject and the court case be put on hold until it's decision... could go either way.

2) It takes more than the $1,000 filing fee. You need patent attorneys and your prior art lined up to present to USPTO.

Invalidating patents directly with the USPTO is a major part of what Fight the Patent Foundation will do to fight against patent abuse.

It would save companies millions of dollars each year in frivilous litigation costs if bad patents were invalidated directly with USPTO, rather than waiting for a defendants to pay the expenses of invalidating the patent in the court system.

More patent infringement cases will becoming more in the news (it already has), and even more so when it enters into your own backyard.

The defendants currently fighting Acacia are dealing with the immediate short term problem. FTPF is looking at the long term...and if the goal is reached, it can become active in the short term.... but that's up to the proposed 2,500 webmasters that are concerned enough, and believe that FTPF as a solution, to be able to contribute a one-time pledge of $100.

If a mandate can be shown, that it gives me every bit of confidence that i can then form the non-profit (501c3) organization because a large group of webmasters would have said that they do want the right to run their businesses, free of any (bogus) patent claims.


Fight the Claims!