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Press release:
ACCESS and Acacia Subsidiary License Smartphone Technology to Microsoft
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101007005412/en/ACCESS-Acacia-Subsidiary-License-Smartphone-Technology-Microsoft
M$ Funds a Patent-Troll
http://pogson.6k.ca/2010/10/08/m-funds-a-patent-troll/
Microsoft pays licence fees for 74 smartphone patents
,----[ Quote ]
| So perhaps, somewhat uncharacteristically,
| Microsoft was simply heading off any such
| headache by signing a licence deal with
| Acacia.
|
| Interestingly Acacia, as previously noted by
| Groklaw, does have a history of hiring
| Microsoft veterans to work at its offices. It
| appointed ex-Microsoft Intellectual Property
| general manager Brad Brunell in 2007.
|
| In July of that year the firm also took on
| Jonathan Taub, who Acacia promoted to the job
| of senior vice president just this month.
|
| As Acacia points out in his corporate bio:
| âPrior to joining Acacia, he was Director of
| Strategic Alliances for Microsoft's Mobile
| and Embedded Devices division and Business
| Development Manager for Microsoft's Security
| | Business Unit.â
|
| So itâs hardly surprising to see the two
| companies play nice over licensing. It also
| means Microsoft, for once, wonât be under the
| patent sueball spotlight.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/08/microsoft_patents_acacia/
Microsoft chief executive: patent laws need reforming
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/oct/05/microsoft-chief-executive-patent
Microsoft boss decries software piracy by China firms
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101008/tc_afp/uschinasoftwareinternetpiracymicrosoft_20101008111029
Javier Carrette confusions about European Software Strategy
http://arebentisch.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/javier-carrette-confusions-about-european-software-strategy/
Jeremy Allison: Great analysis of (wikileaked) plan to curb the free software in the EU. http://tiny.cc/xqe2n. Jonathan Zuck really is the mouth of Sauron.
Recent:
Acacia Subsidiary Enters into License Agreement with Microsoft Corporation
,----[ Quote ]
| Acacia Research Corporation announced
| today that its subsidiary, IP Innovation,
| LLC, has entered into a license agreement
| with Microsoft Corporation covering
| patents that apply to technology for
| enhancing image resolution. The agreement
| resolves a lawsuit that was pending in the
| United States District Court for the
| Northern District of Illinois.
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/acacia-subsidiary-enters-into-license-agreement-with-microsoft-corporation-2010-05-19?reflink=MW_news_stmp
Acacia Subsidiary Enters into License Agreement with Microsoft Corporation
http://www.4-traders.com/ACACIA-ACAC-TECH-8241/news/ACACIA-ACAC-TECH-Acacia-Subsidiary-Enters-into-License-Agreement-with-Microsoft-Corporation-13378413/
Groklaw on why Acacia sued Microsoft
http://slashdot.org/submission/1244290/Groklaw-on-why-Acacia-sued-Microsoft
[PJ: IP Innovation is the same entity that just lost when it sued Red Hat and Novell
over alleged patent infringement. Coincidence, I'm sure, that without even having to
actually go through any litigation to the end, they get a Microsoft payoff. Maybe
Microsoft realized they were guilty of patent infringement. Who knows? But it does
smell just a little funny to me. I mean, not saying this is what happened, but what if?
Let's just imagine for a moment. Let's say you wanted to sue Linux over and over and just
run a Linux company into the ground, as Michael Anderer said Microsoft wanted to have happen.
If you recall, Microsoft announced in 2003 that Linux would face years of
litigation. But then BayStar and Anderer let it slip that Microsoft folks had
inspired investors to help SCO in its battle against Linux. So imagine you are
Microsoft. How do you funnel money to the folks who are to sue Linux next after
that, especially now that SCO has lost ignominiously and is bankrupt?
Here's how my imagination works, when I put my evil-think hat on: why couldn't
you have an entity like IP Innovation sue Linux vendors *and* Microsoft, and if
they win, they get money from the Linux vendor, and if they lose, Microsoft
agrees to settle? Would that not be slick? Again, I'm not applying this imaginary
strategy to anything in real life, but if I were a defense lawyer dealing with a
patent infringement case brought by anyone against Linux, I'd surely look for that
in discovery. Just saying. â Update: I can't find any litigation
against Microsoft by IP Innovation
on PACER or on Google. I see others by other subsidiaries of Acacia, but none listed or
even announced by IP Innovation. Perhaps someone else can find it.] groklaw.net"
Patent Litigation Weekly: Acacia Stock Price Holds Firm Despite Company's Third Trial Loss
,----[ Quote ]
| Acacia's first quarter filing also
| indicates the company is wielding its
| patents against more targets than ever
| before: It reached 40 new licensing
| agreements in the first quarter of 2010,
| compared with 29 the previous year.
|
| In the case of Red Hat and Novell, the two
| companies opted against signing such
| agreements and chose to go to trial
| instead. In doing so, they faced a hurdle
| common to defendants in patent trials:
| winning over jurors with little or no prior
| knowledge about the technology at issue in
| the case--open-source software, in this
| instance.
`----
http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202457878810&Patent_Litigation_Weekly_Acacia_Stock_Price_Holds_Firm_Despite_Companys_Third_Trial_Loss__
Is it time to get realistic about the EU patent and move on to other things?
,----[ Quote ]
| What is absolutely clear to me is that a
| lot of people have a lot invested in the
| current system and want to see it changed
| as little as possible. National patent
| offices currently control the EPO, for
| example, and make a lot of money from it.
| They would still get substantial amounts of
| cash under van Pottlelsberghe's proposals,
| but their influence would wane and they
| would no lomger grant national patents.
| Then there is the legal profession. Just a
| couple of lines from the paper make it
| abundantly clear why so many patent
| attorneys and lawyers in Europe (not all,
| it is important to point out) are opposed
| to reform.
`----
http://www.iam-magazine.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=5f3724cc-2a43-40f3-8c49-4988347d348c
Novell, Red Hat win verdict in Linux case
,----[ Quote ]
| Red Hat Inc. and Novell Inc. won a verdict
| in a case brought by a Texas company that
| claimed their Linux-based products infringed
| patents for ways to share icons across
| computer workstations.
`----
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2010/05/01/novell_red_hat_win_verdict_in_linux_case/
Red Hat wins patent court fight
,----[ Quote ]
| Red Hat has won a legal fight with a small
| Texas company that claimed the Raleigh-based
| software maker infringed on its patents.
`----
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/04/30/461618/red-hat-wins-patent-court-fight.html
The Ticker
,----[ Quote ]
| Walthamâs Novell and Red Hat of Raleigh, N.C.,
| won a federal verdict in a case brought by a
| Texas company that claimed their Linux-based
| software products infringed patents for ways to
| share icons across computer workstations.
`----
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/20100501the_ticker/srvc=business&position=also
Federal Circuit Judge Rader Takes Tech Suits in Texas
,----[ Quote ]
| Already this month, Rader has dismissed one
| patent case against Google and Yahoo on
| summary judgment and trimmed back damages
| theories in a lawsuit against Red Hat and
| Novell. These are somewhat unusual rulings
| for the Eastern District of Texas, which
| historically has not killed as many patent
| cases on summary judgment as other venues.
|
| [...]
|
| â In IP Innovation v. Red Hat, another case
| also involving plaintiff IP Innovation, this
| time against Red Hat and Novell, Rader made
| a statement on the hot button issue of
| damages in patent cases. The judge
| questioned the plaintiff expert's use of the
| "entire market value" rule, which calculates
| damages based on a percentage of total sales
| even if only a small feature of a product
| like a computer is infringing.
|
| "Mr. Gemini's current expert report
| improperly inflates both the royalty base
| and the royalty rate by relying on
| irrelevant or unreliable evidence and by
| failing to account for the economic
| realities of this claimed component as part
| of a larger system," Rader wrote (.pdf).
|
| Red Hat and Novell are being represented by
| Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher lawyers from San
| Francisco.
`----
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202446137751&Federal_Circuit_Judge_Rader_Takes_Tech_Suits_in_Texas
Related:
Paul Ware and Acacia
,----[ Quote ]
| Ware and Financial Systems Innovation, LLC (a subsidiary of Acacia, formerly
| a subsidiary of TechSearch, the company now known as Global Patent Holdings)
| have filed 10 patent litigations in the last four years, against 144
| defendants. Friedman, Suder & Cooke is representing Ware and Acacia in all of
| the litigation, most of which are pending either in the Northern District of
| Georgia or Northern District of Texas. The big filing was one last June
| against 106 defendants, which I reported on here. While 3 of Ware's cases
| were settled, the rest were stayed pending the first reexamination. There are
| motions in each of those cases to lift the stay. Some are being granted, but
| in other cases, more trouble brews.
`----
http://trolltracker.blogspot.com/2008/01/paul-ware-and-acacia.html
Sprint Nextel, Acacia unit settle patent suit
,----[ Quote ]
| A subsidiary of Acacia Research Corp. and Sprint Nextel Corp. have settled a
| lawsuit alleging that Sprint Nextel had infringed on patents for technology
| used to display mobile vehicle information on maps.
`----
http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/local-news/kansascity/2008/01/02/sprint-nextel-acacia-unit-settle-patent-suit
Top Ten Patent Trolls of 2007
,----[ Quote ]
| 3. Acacia. I didn't start tracking Acacia carefully until the summer. But
| still, on my blog I have reported on over two dozen lawsuits brought by
| Acacia this year, against more than 235 defendants. That's in addition to the
| over 200 lawsuits Acacia filed in previous years against hundreds and
| hundreds of defendants. And that's not including the two lawsuits (at least)
| Acacia has filed in December against 20 more defendants (yes, Acacia, I'm
| watching you). Acacia's business model, as a publicly traded company, is to
| accumulate patents and sue as many companies as possible in order to extract
| licenses. They have a market cap of over 275 million - that pays for a lot of
| lawsuits. Unlike other trolls, Acacia tends to not focus on one court in
| particular, although they have sampled the Eastern District of Texas more
| this year than in the past.
`----
http://trolltracker.blogspot.com/2007/12/top-ten-patent-trolls-of-2007.html
Playing Microsoft Patent Poker
,----[ Quote ]
| This time though, while Ballmer slinks away to try to con â convince people
| that Microsoft Unified Communications somehow offers people more than what
| Cisco's VOIP (voice over IP) been offering customers for years, a patent
| attack finally launches at Linux. Specifically, IP Innovation, a subsidiary
| of Acacia Technologies Group, has filed a patent infringement claim against
| Linux distributors Novell and Red Hat.
|
| So was it just timing, or was it something more? Let's take a look at the
| players.
`----
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2201579,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03129TX1K0000616
,----[ Quote ]
| "There you have it. At least a third of SCO's entire market
| capitalization, and their entire current cash reserves, is payoffs
| funnelled from Microsoft. Their 10Qs reveal that every other line of
| cash inflow is statistical noise by comparison. The brave new
| SCO source business model is now clear: sue your customers, shill
| for Microsoft, kite your stock, and pray you stay out of jail."
`----
http://www.catb.org/~esr/halloween/halloween10.html
Friday Patent Litigation News
,----[ Quote ]
| Reader Anthony Sabatini of New York writes to tell me that the auto-text
| patent asserted by Acacia subsidiary AutoText in Cleveland might be invalid
| in light of the Control Data Corp CDC6600 console system developed two
| decades earlier.
|
| [...]
|
| Finally, IP Innovation and Technology Licensing Corp. -- in other words,
| ACACIA -- filed a lawsuit in Marshall against Google, accusing Google's
| search engine and Google Earth of infringing two patents. This is the same
| Acacia sub that sued Red Hat and Novell over Linux, with the same lawyers -
| Johnny Ward and Eric Albritton. But these are different patents. The patents
| asserted against Google are 5,276,785 and 5,675,819, which Acacia got from
| Xerox. Nice going, Xerox.
`----
http://trolltracker.blogspot.com/2007/11/friday-patent-litigation-news.html
Acacia and Niro File Another Multi-Defendant Lawsuit on JPEG-on-a-Website
Patent, Bringing Total to 16 Companies Sued
,----[ Quote ]
| Assuming it files one per month for the next 39 months until the patent
| expires, then what Acacia is really seeking is $600M from US industry for the
| JPEG-on-a-website patent. My guess is theyâll sue many more companies than
| that, and seek up to a billion dollars â which, assuming a 33% contingency
| fee (which is low, probably), amounts to a cool $100 million per year for the
| Niro firm.
|
| And people wonder why heâd like to shut down websites critical of Acacia and
| other patent trolls. The real question is what does he want from you and me,
| for our photo blogs, our personal websites. His statements to IP Law 360 only
| referred to companies.
|
| The other real question is how many companies will spend millions in
| attorneys fees to fight rather than pay the $500K or $1M or $2M that Acacia
| is demanding. That's the sad state of patent litigation these days.
`----
http://trolltracker.blogspot.com/2007/12/acacia-and-niro-file-another-multi.html
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