[opendtv] Re: Internet Patent Claims Stir Concern
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 13:39:43 -0400
I don't know what's so surprising or hard to imagine about
any of this. First of all, as the article says, there are
already plenty of examples of sites available only for a
fee. And secondly, we have had for about a century a
global network that required payment for use. It's called
the telephone network.
If businesses which use the web or FTP sites think it's to
their advantage to go to such a model, it will merely make
Internet users behave more like telephone users. It's
hard to believe that would make a lot of sense to these
businesses, but it's up to them.
The fact seems to be, though, that it's the telephone
companies trending to more of a fixed fee service. That
can either mean that pay-per-use Internet will not
happen in a big way, or it could mean that telephony and
Internet are converging to a middle ground business
model. I tend to believe the former.
Bert
> PATENTS
>
> Internet Patent Claims Stir Concern
>
> By TERESA RIORDAN
> August 16, 2004
>
> IMAGINE being able to set up a tollbooth on the Internet. Now imagine
> collecting a small fee every time anyone in the United States clicked
> on the Web to watch a video of a car advertisement, to listen to an
> audio clip of a garage band or to review an updated credit card
> statement.
>
> Sound far-fetched? Acacia Research Corporation, an obscure but
> well-financed company in Newport Beach, Calif., has a portfolio of
> patents that, it claims, allows it to do exactly that.
>
> Acacia holds five patents covering streaming video and audio. The
> earliest one, numbered 5,132,992, was issued in 1992.
>
> In 2002, the company began sending out letters demanding licensing
> fees, largely from the lucrative online pornography industry. But of
> late, it has stepped up pressure on financial and educational
> institutions and news organizations, including The New York Times
> Company, which has received a letter from Acacia relating to its
> corporate Web site. In June, Acacia sued nine cable and satellite
> companies, including Comcast, DirecTV and EchoStar Communications. In
> late July, it sent out more letters demanding licensing fees from
> educational organizations that offer Web-based classes.
>
> ...
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/16/technology/16patent.html
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