CYBERSPACE—An appeals court has affirmed the decision reached last year by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that invalidated the family of “streaming media” patents owned by Acacia Media Technologies.
The terse affirmation was made yesterday, and unless a further appeal is attempted, this brings to a final close a seven-year saga over patents that Acacia attempted to force upon the industry. Several adult companies—including Homegrown Video, Lightspeed Media, New Destiny and Video Secrets—refused to buckle before the tactics of intimidation that Acacia brought to bear not only against them, but ultimately also against leading satellite and cable companies Echostar, DirectTV, Time Warner Cable and CSC Holdings, Inc.
The original opinion was rendered Sept. 15, 2009, by Judge James Ware, who noted, “When evaluating a motion for summary judgment, the court views the evidence through the prism of the evidentiary standard of proof that would pertain at trial. … Generally, an issued patent enjoys a presumption of validity that can be overcome only by clear and convincing evidence of invalidity. Thus, a party seeking to invalidate a patent by a motion for summary judgment must submit clear, convincing and undisputed evidence of invalidity.
“Although Acacia has submitted additional declaration and has asked the Court to modify its claim constructions,” Ware continued, “Acacia agrees that … each of the asserted claims is invalid as a matter of law. The Court is not persuaded to modify its claim constructions. Based on its constructions and the stipulation of Acacia, the Court finds that each asserted claim is invalid for indefiniteness.”
