Anyone streaming video– not just adult entertainment – will hear from Acacia Media Technologies about its streaming media patent claims, including broadcast news and sports, Acacia vice president Robert Berman told a popular adult Internet Webcast yesterday.
"There's this misnomer out there that we're only talking to the adult entertainment companies and we're not, quote, talking to the big boys," Berman told the D-Money Show in a live online interview. "It's just not true."
Berman also said Acacia was not seeking a royalty on all revenues a licensing company generated, as was sometimes speculated, but only a percentage of subscription revenues. Citing conversations with various companies' representatives, Berman said it simply wasn't possible to know exactly how much streaming video a Website subscriber uses during a month's or a year's membership.
He wouldn't specify which mainstream news and sports companies Acacia contacted when pressed by host D-Money. "Companies that are streaming video online are generally using our technology," he said, "and you can rest assured that we are going to each industry, industry by industry, and contacting all the players that are doing streaming."
Everyone streaming video in sports has received an Acacia package, Berman said. "And I could say the same thing for the movie industry, and I could say the same thing for the music industry," he said.
Berman questioned whether the Internet Media Protective Association – formed to challenge Acacia's streaming media patent claims and to work on behalf of other adult Internet issues and interests – was really acting in the best interest of the adult Internet and giving "accurate and complete information." He also challenged two of the IMPA's prime players, Homegrown Video chief Spike Goldberg and VideoSecrets chief Greg Clayman, to all but put up or shut up regarding prior art and other arguments that would, if proven, invalidate Acacia's patent claim.
"Mr. Clayman and Mr. Goldberg should be going to their lawyers and saying, 'Sit down, lawyers, and explain to me, show me the evidence that you have that these claims are invalid," he said. "They need to ask those questions and actually see the evidence… My question is, are they asking the right questions to their lawyers, or are they just taking their lawyers' word for it."
Berman did say that if the IMPA has a real prior art claim, they should get together with Acacia "in a room and let us look at it… if it's valid, we'll save a lot of money and a lot of time… if it's invalid, we'll go away. We'll save everybody a lot of money and a lot of time… Once (prior art)'s out there, you can't buy it, you can't hide it… In order for something to be patentable, it needs to be new. If there's prior art out there showing that something wasn't new, it could potentially invalidate the patent and it doesn't matter who owns it."
Reached for comment as he was traveling to Internext in Florida, Goldberg said his company and the IMPA would prefer fighting the issue in court and not via public opinion.
"I feel that if [Berman’s] case is as strong as he says, they would never have had to use the word 'adult' in this case," Goldberg said, alluding in part to an earlier court ruling that the word could remain in all filings in the case. "The disdain and disrespect he has for our industry came across in his interview. We do have a great deal of respect for this process, and we're taking it very seriously. And we plan to do exactly what our rights afford us."
Berman was also pressed on Acacia's reputed licensing demand for a 2 percent royalty, and to justify it when you couldn't know how much streaming video was used by any subscriber.
"The bottom line is, your industry is very smart from a marketing perspective," Berman said. "People want to join a site and pay one fee to look at everything. To form a separate site which just has video on it in order to avoid a 2 percent revenue really is cutting your nose to spite your face…
"Instead of taking a higher percentage on just the use of our video, we're taking a percentage of the overall subscription revenue because of the industry's inability to figure out which portion of it goes to videos and which don't," he continued. "And… we're not talking about gross revenues derived from exit traffic… [or] from stores… we're only talking about a percentage of the total subscription revenue."
He also said that, while Acacia didn't expect to audit every last license holder, they would cross-check companies. "You can't expect us to go totally on the honor system, be it the adult entertainment industry or any industry," he said.
