Ownership of Streaming Audio and Video Challenged
Acacia Media Technologies has sent letters to a number of colleges and
universities essentially claiming that patents it owns govern file
transfer over the Internet, or any local network. In essence, Acacia
is claiming that its ownership of the patents cover streaming, all
audio and video files which are stored on one computer and which can
be accessed (i.e., by downloading of the file) on another computer at
the request of that second computer. It appears that the video files
do not have to be motion pictures; they can be simple JPEG or tif or
even PDF files (digitization, i.e. creation of the files is not a part
of Acacia's patents). Acacia's claims affect, for example audio and
video associated with eCollege's online courses. Acacia has targeted
distance education, stating in its letters to higher education
institutions that it will forgo claims for past infringement of its
patents if the institution will sign Acacia's "standard" license and
pay a 2% royalty on it distance education revenues.
Link: http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Template.cfm?Section=NewsandEvents&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11701&InterestCategoryID=272