Acacia Counter-sued For Unfair Trade, Judicial Abuse

Lashing back at what they call Acacia Media Technologies' "predatory and abusive" tactics in litigating its streaming media patent claims, New Destiny Media/Homegrown Video has filed a counter suit in federal court charging the Newport Beach, California company with unfair trade practices and abuse of the judicial system. 

“It is unfortunate that Acacia viewed our industry as a mere stepping stone that would fill its coffers," said New Destiny/Homegrown chief Spike Goldberg, announcing the action. "We have said from the beginning that Acacia’s claims were baseless and its tactics improper.  That Acacia has resorted to such unlawful tactics makes our point and we look forward to our day in court." 

The announcement came on behalf of a group of Acacia litigants who decided independently to challenge Acacia's streaming media patent claims. The group includes VS Media, Homegrown Video, TopBucks, GameLink, LightSpeed Entertainment, AEBN, Sunup Media, Webmaster Paradise, Adult Revenue Service, and others.

"It's not just for us," Goldberg told AVN.com. "It's for our customers, the people we do business with. And that, at the end of the day, the facts will come out. And, when they do, they'll find that these are invalid claims, and that we're not infringing. Let the court process decide."

Acacia vice president and general counsel Rob Berman declined comment when reached by AVN.com. 

According to the counterclaim filing, a copy of which was obtained by AVN.com, the unfair trade practice charge accuses Acacia of making "knowingly false and/or misleading statements about the systems and methods covered by its patents," and of intent to threaten, harass, "and intimidate" those adult Internet companies it accused of patent infringement or which challenged or discussed challenging Acacia's patent claims.

"Relying on (the companies') perceived lack of sophistication in patent matters and perceived lack of financial resources to defend against unfounded patent infringement suits," the counterclaim continued, "Acacia has engaged in a pattern of conduct designed to create an atmosphere of fear so as to force (the companies)…to pay royalties rather than defend against objectively baseless patent infringement suits."

The counterclaim also challenges previously published statements attributed to Berman in which he said Acacia spent "an enormous amount of time and money doing due diligence on the patents…hir(ing) professional search firms to perform prior art and literature searches in the U.S., Europe, and Asia." The counterclaim charges Acacia "has steadfastly refused to provide any details" to back those statements, either to its litigants or to the press.

The abuse of process allegation, according to the counterclaim filing, charges Acacia with abuse by "instituting and maintaining its objectively baseless patent infringement and business tort claims…to accomplish a purpose for which the legal system is not designed or intended." And, just as Acacia has accused those adult Internet companies resisting and challenging their streaming media patent claims of intent to damage actual and possible business and reputation, the counterclaim likewise accuses Acacia. 

"The law forbids the use of the judicial system for ulterior motives such as seeking to scare and intimidate hard working people into paying for patent licenses they do not need for technology they do not use," Goldberg said. "Few, if any, companies that put audio or video content on the Internet use the very specific systems and methods claimed by Acacia. Acacia knows it does not own the rights to video-on-demand or audio-on-demand, which is why it has resorted to misusing the judicial system to convince the public that it does."