Screaming Media!!!!!
So this company - Acacia, is going to sue some internet smut-streamers
(read it here!) ... They claim that they own the concept of streaming media, and they are entitled to like, 3% of all profits from companies that stream media. I guess they figure that they'll give this "stream-scheme" a go with the porn folks (because we all know that they're not
really legitimate businesspeople anyways, right??) and see what happens - and because, as the New York State Lottery commercials say... "Hey, you never know!".
Does anyone else find this concept absurd??
Does this mean that every time Domino's delivers a pizza, they should rightfully send a portion of the cash to the people who manufacture the tires (or car, or gas... this could go on forever!!) on the car that delivered the goods, Can you own a patent on the wheel? How about the color blue (I wanna own blue - I
like blue!)
Can you patent a concept??
I can almost understand Acacia's gripe, if they have a certain algorithm, or compression scheme they lay claim to - but claiming patent rights to the
concept of streaming media seems to me a bit like claiming patent rights to the English language.
The real kicker to this whole thing, is that they didn't invent streaming media - they're a holding company who bought... well, this:
"A system of distributing video and/or audio information employs digital signal processing to achieve high rates of data compression. The compressed and encoded audio and/or video information is sent over standard telephone, cable or satellite broadcast channels to a receiver specified by a subscriber of the service, preferably in less than real time, for later playback and optional recording on standard audio and/or video tape."
I'd like to know who the hell sold Acacia this!!! I wonder... Will the estate of Gene Roddenberry be able to get "A piece of the action" should transporter beams ever become a reality? Star Trek fans demand to know!
Personally - I really, really hope Acacia gets stomped on this one... but If they
do get away with this - I'm not walking, I'm
running to buy Acacia stock!!!
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