Acacia Pursuing Streaming Patent

[Seth Johnson <seth.johnson@RealMeasures.dyndns.org>]

(Forwarded from Media Mentor list)

-------- Original Message --------
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 23:04:30 -0600
From: "George(s) Lessard " <media@web.net>
To: creative-radio@egroups.com,
mediamentor@yahoogroups.com,cyberculture@zacha.org
CC: ccradio@topica.com, radio@lists.tao.ca

------------------------------------ 
Patent scare hits streaming industry
------------------------------------
 
A company is accusing websites that stream audio and video 
content of violating its patents.  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.  The company's
licensing campaign is targeting smaller  companies which are
less likely to mount a successful defense in  court, but its
sweeping patents are likely to cover the activities of a 
huge swath of internet multimedia companies, ranging from 
Microsoft to America Online.  "It's extortion," said Michael
Roe,  proprietor of the small RadioIO Webcasting station,
which recently  received a notice from Acacia requesting
payment of licensing fees.   "It's just another example of
someone seeking to extend patents for  an old technology to
... cover completely new technology. It's  absurd."  Mr 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.  Some  companies are already paying up. Radio Free
Virgin, the online  music division of Richard Branson's
Virgin corporation, decided that  licensing would be less
expensive than litigation.  "We did research  on the claims
and found that they were pretty clear - somewhat  broad, but
specific enough to cover us," said Zack Zalon, general 
manager of Virgin's radio site.  

Source: http://news.com.com/2100-1023-983552.html - News.com

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