Acacia Issued Another European DMT Patent

An additional European patent covering 14 countries has been issued to Acacia Research Corp. for its Digital Media Transmission, the company announced January 14.

The countries are Great Britain, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Monaco, Luxembourg, and Greece.

Acacia executive vice president Robert Berman told AVNOnline.com the company has "hundreds" of additional DMT patent claims pending in Europe and the United States, and they expect the claims to be granted with the original 1991 priority date.

"This newly issued patent represents a small portion of those claims," Berman said of the newly-granted additional European patent. "The current adult entertainment litigation involves only a few claims from two of our currently issued DMT patents. We have the right to assert claims from additional existing DMT patents, and new DMT patents once they issue, if necessary."

The European patent news came two days after Acacia announced it had signed Cyberheat/TopBucks – the adult Webmaster affiliate program and one of the early members of the group of adult companies challenging the Acacia patent claims – to a DMT licensing deal.

TopBucks told AVNOnline.com at the time that their decision was based on whether they could afford the risk of staying in the challenge and possibly ending up on a losing side and thus paying even more in royalties and fees than if they agreed to license."It's not a decision we relish making," said marketing director Quentin Boyer. "It came after a great deal of internal handwringing, questioning and re-questioning our positions. At the end of the day, it's a business decision based on risk analysis."

But he also said TopBucks signing the licensing deal didn't mean they rolled over and played dead, or discourage others challenging the Acacia claims to continue the challenge.

New Destiny/Homegrown Video chief Spike Goldberg, who co-leads a group of adult Internet companies challenging the Acacia patent claims, dismissed the European patent announcement.

"Berman is very worried about the Markman hearing," Goldberg said, referring to the hearing, set for early February, in which a federal trial judge hears evidence and definitions and then determines asserted patent claims as matters of law. "I think (Acacia's) behaving like someone who's scared of what's up and coming. And I don't care how many patents are issued. We're going to see what the court decides. And I'd be more concerned and happy about seeing them tested in court, and less concerned with trying to take defense group members and getting them to settle."