Streaming Media Patent Upheld By Default
from the does-that-really-count? dept
Back in February we wrote about the case of Acacia. They're yet another "patent licensing companies" that doesn't actually do anything innovative, but gets possession of various patents, and waits until others come up with the same ideas and actually tries to build something for the market. In this case, Acacia sits on some patents for streaming media. In order to make life easier for themselves and set some sort of precedent, they sued a bunch of porn sites. Apparently, the porn sites decided that they weren't even going to bother fighting the suit. They didn't settle or agree to pay. They just didn't respond. Thus, the judge has upheld Acacia's patent rights and told the sites they need to stop offering video and audio. Acacia, of course, is proudly publicizing the fact that this "validates" their patents. This is not the case. Acacia is acting like the little leaguers who "win" a game after not enough players show up for the other team. You don't brag about such a "win". You realize you got lucky and you move on. Hopefully, some company is actually willing to take on Acacia and prove to a judge that their patents are not valid.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
Hey! The little league team I'm coaching has won 2 games this way. A win is a win ;)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
Hey! The little league team I'm coaching has won 2 games this way. A win is a win ;)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]