NEWS> Streaming Video and Audio Patent Scare

From: Gleason Sackmann <gleason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: NetHappenings <nethappenings@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 14:19:05 -0600
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Net Happenings - From Educational CyberPlayGround
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From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 14:30:44 -0500 (EST)

Acacia Media Technologies is trying to claim it owns patent rights to
crucial audio and video streaming technologies and claim royalty payments
from companies that are using the technologies they claim to own the rights to.

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Patent scare hits streaming industry
By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
February 6, 2003, 4:00 AM PT
<http://news.com.com/2100-1023-983552.html>

Michael Roe, proprietor of the small RadioIO Webcasting station, got a
surprise FedEx package this week, containing a notification that he was
violating patents owned by a company he'd never heard of.

That's not uncommon in the technology world--the surprise was the scope of
the claims. The sender, a company called Acacia Media Technologies, said
it owned patents on the process of transmitting compressed audio or video
online, one of the most basic multimedia technologies on the Net.

Roe, who recently finished fighting an expensive legislative battle over
copyright fees for the music his station plays, was flabbergasted. Acacia
only wanted three-quarters of a percent of his revenue, but every bit
hurts at this point, he said.

"It's extortion," Roe said. "It's just another example of someone seeking
to extend patents for an old technology to...cover completely new
technology. It's absurd."

This week's letter to RadioIO is just a small part of an expanding
licensing campaign by Acacia, which confidently says it holds sweeping
patents likely to cover the activities of a huge swath of Internet
multimedia companies, ranging from Microsoft to America Online. They could
even cover pay-per-view movies on cable TV and in hotel rooms. On
Wednesday, the company signed up its latest licensee, Mexican satellite
telecommunications company Grupo Pegaso.

Bold patent claims on seemingly generic software ideas or business
practices are an increasingly common part of the technology landscape. But
there is reason to take Acacia seriously. Radio Free Virgin, the online
music division of Richard Branson's Virgin corporation, said it agreed to
license the technology late last year after a careful legal review.

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Sincerely,
David Dillard Research Librarian
david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ECP RingLeader
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx









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NEWS> Streaming Video and Audio Patent Scare

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