Acacia Conspiracy Theory 101

[Far-L]

Here are the facts...

Acacia has...

demanded customer lists as part of its licensing package...

employed members of the adult internet industry as consultants...

made confidentiality promises that it has broken...

continued to characterize its V-chip patent as valid despite losing in a Summary Jugment...

been involved in an investigation for connections to securities improprieties...

Here are the theories...

Acacia is...

in league with some of the industry "players" to bring more patents down on the industry and create a monopoly that would shut out all the "Young Turks" that have hurt their existing market share so substantially...

the consultant(s) is/are being paid a percentage of licensing revenue...

will not keep future promises or create ambiguous settlements open to unfair interpretations...

going to lose the DMT patent faster than they lost the V-Chip...

manipulating stock success with support from some adult industry "players"...

I know in some ways the facts and the fictions of theories seem to blend together but it is important to keep them separate and distinct from one another and not allow one to influence the interpretation of the other. Nor is it recommended for facts to be considered in any other light than as simply a basis for developing new theories as a constructive manner of seeking and determining new facts. So, while the relationship between facts and theories may further confuse the distinction between the two, we urge the reader to look upon the facts exclusively and develop the theories further on thier own...

I think the riddle of the Sphinx posed to Oedipus must conclude this discourse on searching for truth in a world of presumptions and lies...

"What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?"

By saving the city... are we not also going to destroy ourselves?

The plot thickens... find out what happens in the next quarter/chapter/act...



Last edited by Far-L at Oct 22 2003, 02:21 PM

[Mike AI]

I am not a big fan on conspiracies.... I think most are hairbrain schemes from crazy people.

However, in this case, based on my OWN snooping around, I am coming to the conclusion. in my opinion, that some big players in this industry are in collusion with acacia, to try and eliminate competition and to personally profit. ( through stock or more business).

I also think this is the first step, that other patents are going to be tried to be enforced against the industry.

An enterprising attorney might have a very nice CIVIL RICO case... It is time the light it put on all of these deals for everyone to see.

Of course, this is all my opinion, I could be wrong.

[Opti]

We need names! Name Names!!!

[Far-L]

I am sure it will be as R_n said... "when the truth comes out, you will all be surprised..."

[FightThePatent]

oh, oh, oh, i got a conspiracy theory Mister Cot-tah....

A GFY poster thought I might be working for Acacia.... .so that Acacia makes money from the license and gets the rest of the money from people who are pledging to fight against them.

Yes, i know its GFY...




Fight the Patent!

[Mike AI]

Reading up on Civil RICO causes of action....

Far-L, it is my opinion, that this is something you should have attorneys to look into.


http://www.lectlaw.com/files/lit08.htm


A nice article, the title " RICO: Businesses' Best Weapon Against Bribes, Kickbacks and Other Forms of Corporate Corruption "

http://www.ricoact.com/ricoact/articles.asp

[*KK*]

I wonder if Berman and the boys are smart enough to actually be in collusion with anyone in this business. They might be getting a big surprise as well as anyone else...

[BradShaw]

Originally posted by Mike AI@Oct 22 2003, 02:35 PM
I am not a big fan on conspiracies.... I think most are hairbrain schemes from crazy people.

However, in this case, based on my OWN snooping around, I am coming to the conclusion. in my opinion, that some big players in this industry are in collusion with acacia, to try and eliminate competition and to personally profit. ( through stock or more business).

I also think this is the first step, that other patents are going to be tried to be enforced against the industry.

An enterprising attorney might have a very nice CIVIL RICO case... It is time the light it put on all of these deals for everyone to see.

Of course, this is all my opinion, I could be wrong.

I agree. The same big players who have caused visa to crack down, are working with acacia. Coincidence, I do not think so. They may be scum, but you never hear them called stupid.

[baddog]

Originally posted by Mike AI@Oct 22 2003, 02:35 PM


An enterprising attorney might have a very nice CIVIL RICO case

now that would be interesting, you should patent that idea

[baddog]

hmmm, maybe I need to do some more reading, never heard of a civil RICO before

[Hooper]

rico has been applied civily plenty of times.

i dont think there is any law on the books that could do more damage to this industry.

if ashcroft and his cronies had a brain they'd attack biz practices, not the naked pictures.

[Mike AI]

Originally posted by Hooper@Oct 22 2003, 06:52 PM
rico has been applied civily plenty of times.

i dont think there is any law on the books that could do more damage to this industry.

if ashcroft and his cronies had a brain they'd attack biz practices, not the naked pictures.

It was used to get the Catholic Church for protecting the molesting priests. It was used against anti-abortion foes who were blocking clinics. It was used by someone against celeb sites.

All successes.

[baddog]

Originally posted by Hooper@Oct 22 2003, 03:52 PM
rico has been applied civily plenty of times.

i dont think there is any law on the books that could do more damage to this industry.

if ashcroft and his cronies had a brain they'd attack biz practices, not the naked pictures.

hmmm, well . . . it looks like it has been attempted more than it has succeeded . . . RICO has some pretty specific standards, but apparently some clever usage also.

Well, I like tolearn something new every day, and looks like this is mine for the day

[Squirt]

Originally posted by Far-L@Oct 22 2003, 02:20 PM
Here are the facts...

Acacia has...

demanded customer lists as part of its licensing package...

employed members of the adult internet industry as consultants...

made confidentiality promises that it has broken...

continued to characterize its V-chip patent as valid despite losing in a Summary Jugment...

been involved in an investigation for connections to securities improprieties...

Here are the theories...

Acacia is...

in league with some of the industry "players" to bring more patents down on the industry and create a monopoly that would shut out all the "Young Turks" that have hurt their existing market share so substantially...

the consultant(s) is/are being paid a percentage of licensing revenue...

will not keep future promises or create ambiguous settlements open to unfair interpretations...

going to lose the DMT patent faster than they lost the V-Chip...

manipulating stock success with support from some adult industry "players"...

I know in some ways the facts and the fictions of theories seem to blend together but it is important to keep them separate and distinct from one another and not allow one to influence the interpretation of the other. Nor is it recommended for facts to be considered in any other light than as simply a basis for developing new theories as a constructive manner of seeking and determining new facts. So, while the relationship between facts and theories may further confuse the distinction between the two, we urge the reader to look upon the facts exclusively and develop the theories further on thier own...

I think the riddle of the Sphinx posed to Oedipus must conclude this discourse on searching for truth in a world of presumptions and lies...

"What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?"

By saving the city... are we not also going to destroy ourselves?

The plot thickens... find out what happens in the next quarter/chapter/act...

" manipulating stock success with support from some adult industry "players"...

I have seen it first hand.

They even openly post on GFY about their stocks with Acacia and future trends.

I had no idea this industry was so cut throat back stabbing as this. I mean.. sponsors turning in the guys making them money? And this IS HAPPENING

Now I feel insecure.. who wants to make alliances with me not to screw me over and make lots of money together?

By the way I'm Squirtit from Ynot and GFY .. this is my first post in this forum.



Last edited by Squirt at Oct 22 2003, 04:36 PM

[Rolo]

Sponsor(s) given info about their affiliates to Acacia - thats a bad move, and will probably hit them like a ton of bricks, if it should ever be known which sponsor(s) are behind this...

[Mike AI]

Rolo what if the program who gave the info away doesn't care, because they are no longer in business?


Squirt, good to see you here.... I read this on Yahoo, thought it made a lot of sense, and is apparently written by someone who is not in the porn biz

new problem for Acacia
by: investbluechipper2 10/19/03 01:11 pm
Msg: 22561 of 23042

I now have 200 shares and I'm watching the adult webmaster boards carefully for signs maybe of a move to get mass licensee signups, this trend does not bode well:

from yesterday:

You see, if acacia had spent more time actually doing research on who they were trying to shake down they would find out that perhaps 85% of their potential licensees don't make a living wage using their "DMT" technology. Maybe the average adult webmaster made some serious money at one time, but the problem is acacia is hitting the webmaster group about 4 years too late. VERY FEW webmasters make even 50K/year, and even less make over 100K/year. Of course if they had really done research they would find out about general traffic trends in the adult market. The business is very soft, traffic is mostly down (in the aggregate) and doing research on alexa would have shown them that.

But the fancy first printing on coated stock is already in the mail. So acacia thinks let's put a good face on this, do some quick damage control, and see if we can save this.

So they do an under the table deal with 47 licensees. And it's a PR stunt which everyone with any sense sees right through.

After all, acacia is dealing with a group called adult webmasters. These are guys that sell PORN for a living. If anything this is a demographic that doesn't easily do what it's told...if anything this is a demographic of independent-minded mavericks who have mostly an outlaw mentality.

I suspect that the movers and shakers of acacia are mostly ivy league college boys in their 30's. They have not lived long enough to know much about the HISTORY of organized pornography in the United States. True, porn today in America is fairly mainstream, run 95% by fairly mainstream people...but 5% of the money in porn is controlled by a VERY unsavory bunch.

Imagine what would happen if Tony Soprano was asked for 2% of his take. Don't believe me? check the history, and listen to the US Dept. of Justice. There is an element in the USA adult business that has criminality attached to it. It is small, but it is there. Check the history of the players. Some of them do not settle things in a courtroom. Some of them still have their hands in adult. Go back to a major city just a few years ago where people were murdered and adult bookstores and buildings were burned down. Check the history.

"low-hanging fruit"? Maybe not. And some fruit that might be dangerous to pick.

And then there is the other problem with the acacia business model. The sheer number of the litigants.

And now it appears that acacia cannot collect license fees just by mailing demand letters. They already tried that and met with abject failure. The simple fact is that acacia will have to SUE tens of thousands of mostly modest income webmasters, obtain judgments, and then collect on the judgments. This is a daunting, even impossible task due to the sheer number of litigants.

Read carefully now. Here is how a lawsuit works.

1. You must be served properly with a summons and complaint. Mailing you a fancy packet means nothing, it is a SALES piece. Do not come on this or any other board and say you received a packet or ANY communcation from acacia.

2. If you are sued, respond to it. You will probably lose in court unless you want to spend plenty of $ on a specialist patent attorney. DON'T spend the money, appear in pro per and demand a jury trial. You will still lose eventually, but acacia cannot sue 10,000 webmasters all over America who actually appear in pro per. It's not cost effective for them. They are betting you will be intimidated to pay. Show them wrong, force them into court and appear in pro per on every little case. It is your constitutional right and it will break their back faster than anything else you can do.

[Mike AI]

There is a lot of interesting reading on the Yahoo group:

technical expert on this topic
by: dope_fx (27/M/My Nehbohood)
Long-Term Sentiment: Sell 10/18/03 02:16 am
Msg: 22492 of 23044

Make sure to read it all and not pick it apart the bits and pieces to try and make your arguments hold water. Acacia is screwed and that is fact their patent is not worth the paper which it was printed and they waited far to long to enforce it regardless.

----------

Company tries to lay claim to streaming patents
By Jason Meserve
Network World Fusion, 01/02/03

Acacia Research Corp. is attempting to make money the old fashioned way - lawsuits. The company claims its patent on Digital Media Transmission covers just about all streaming media and now its trying to enforce the patent to collect royalties. Acacia is first going after Internet porn sites, known for their cutting edge (and profitable) use of new Web technologies. While some may argue that waiting until a technology becomes really big before enforcing a patent is bad business, big online streaming players such as Radio Free Virgin are ponying up the dough to keep Acacia at bay.



TrackBack


Comments
Read the posting about the Acacia Research patent. I'd like to provide some relevant information that I hope will help the businesses involved in this patent licensing shakedown. I've produced a 17-page bibliography (in MS Word format) that contains the abstracts for many pre-1992 technical publications regarding internet audio and video, live or VOD. These document references may provide all of the legal evidence needed to invalidate the Acacia video related patents. (Plz email me if you'd like a copy of the bibilography.

If you are not familiar with patent law, in order to meet the novelty requirement for a U.S. patent, an invention must not have been known or used by others in this country before the applicant invented it. The invention also must not have been patented or described in a printed publication in the U.S. or a foreign country before the applicant invented it. These documents are called "prior art" and show that a patented invention is either not new or is obvious and is therefore not eligible for patent protection. Those publications invalidate any and all U.S. patents that were filed one year after the document was published and that claims as an invention ANY of the subject matter that was disclosed in those documents.

So how do I know about the internet digital media technology and related patents? I was employed as a principal scientist by one the pioneers of internet content delivery, InterVU. I was the geek responsible for the design, development and deployment of the first commercial content delivery network. I'm also a co-author of one of the InterVU patents related to content delivery over the internet. ( Hey, those InterVU patents and the technology proved to extremely valuable. InterVU, the content delivery network and the patent portfolio were purchased in 2000 by a company called Akamai for $2.8 BILLION dollars! Yeah, wow, unreal...)

So being a net nerd for almost three decades now, I figure I'm fully qualified as a technical expert on this topic. Some of the relevant documents I discovered were published as far back as the 1970's. In my professional opinion, there is very little, if any, technical validity for the Acacia patent infringement claims.

I sincerely hope the document abstracts can help you with legal battle against Acacia Research. Please let me know if I can be of any other assistance to you and the other unfortunate folks caught up in this litigation nightmare.

best regards,

buck

Posted by: buckminster on January 24, 2003 06:08 AM

[Rolo]

what if the program who gave the info away doesn't care, because they are no longer in business?

That could be the case, and I´m sure that those who have done this probably have thought about what would happen if anybody found out, and decided that the possible problems are nothing compare to whatever "sweetheart", "stocks" or "cash" deal they got.

But the Acacia "stigmata" will be there forever - no matter the outcome of the Acacia patent claim.



Last edited by Rolo at Oct 22 2003, 05:48 PM

[Peaches]

In my non-educated, non-legal opinion, it's looking more and more like those who settled with Acacia made a really bad move - both legally and professionally.

[Mike AI]

Another interesting post, its probably how real business is done, its is kinda depressing.....

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Re: Davis Look at the bottom line.
by: DavisProductions 10/22/03 07:56 pm
Msg: 23032 of 23051

I agree with you.

But aside from the FACT that the patent is bogus and the management is pond scum, let's look at the other facts:

1 - In the past 6 months the stock has gone up over 700%. There is very little short interest, so it's not short covering. It's real buying. Listen to the message of the market.

2 - The biggest players are capitulating. Only the small sites are fighting. What does Larry Flynt know that we don't?

3 - Revenue has gone up 1000% in 3 months. And the biggest licenses to date have not yet kicked in.

4 - The prospect of a large cable company like Comcast agreeing to a license could double the price of the stock overnight. A license like that would be H-U-G-E! Don't focus on the adult web sites. That is small potatos compared to the big prize --- VOD over cable and satellite. Don't forget that one of the first licensees was Lodgenet.

5 - It will take YEARS to get a court judgement invalidating the patent, if in fact the small sites fighting don't run out of money before then.

6 - Their real cost of operations is virtually nil over and above ordinary G&A costs. They don't have a product, hence no production costs other than Xerox paper and postage. That's a 100% margin busines s model.

I'm can't believe I'm writing this, and will have to go puke again afterwards. But I am trying to be objective. Seeing Hustler cave in was a wake up call. If Larry Flynt can agree to a license and call it a "business decision", then holding my nose and buying the stock is the same thing --- a business decision.

That's my story, and I'm stickin to it.

[Far-L]

Did I ever tell you all how much I love you?

[DannyCox]

Originally posted by Peaches@Oct 22 2003, 06:29 PM
In my non-educated, non-legal opinion, it's looking more and more like those who settled with Acacia made a really bad move - both legally and professionally.

Maybe legally, Peaches, but I doubt professionally.

Unfortunately, the majority of webmasters don't have a clue about what's going on, and probably could care less.

These are the type of people you can screw over, time and time again, and they'll still come out and use your programs because you announce "Fifty Dollar Fridays", or any other type of hype.

A lot of us here have been around since the beginning. We've all seen the same guys screw webmasters, get caught, and just do it again. These guys know they'll lose a few webmasters, but will probably gain more in the long run due to the publicity.

Many thanks to Far-L, Spike, et al, for keeping up the fight and the pressure. My only hopes is that when this finally does blow over, the "traitors" will be unmasked, and shown the respect they deserve.

[Mike AI]

Originally posted by DannyCox+Oct 23 2003, 12:12 AM-->