My cow-orker Jason Schultz is running EFF's patent-busting project, and high on his list of damaging Internet patents is Acacia Research's patent on streaming media. Acacia has pursued this patent by targetting porn companies and extracting settlements in order to fund a war-chest that it is now using to sue bigger media entities — presumably this trail ends with orgs like the BBC, CBC, and Live365.
Adult Video News (AVN) interviewed Jason and some of the Acacia people about the ongoing work to bust the patent, and the Acacia people busted out this bizarre analogy about stealing SUVs ("If someone broke into your garage and stole your SUV, and put a speaker on the top, and was driving around the neighborhood making some political statement, trying to get your SUV back wouldn't be trying to stifle free speech, it would be you trying to get your property back. If somebody is using your property, you have a right to stop them or receive a license or receive royalties").
Jason's repsonse was classic:
"There's no question now that an SUV in your garage is something you own. But here there's a real question as to whether Acacia actually invented anything new or simply is claiming monopoly on technology that millions of people use every day to express themselves," Schultz told AVNOnline.com.
"And the other thing is, I don't have to break into your garage to steal your SUV to express myself in the physical world. But I can't think of a modern Website, especially news Websites, that don't depend on streaming some kind of audio or video to express themselves on the Web. It has become a fundamental part of free expression online," he continued. "And I would say it has become the predominant method for artists and news organizations to connect to their audiences. [Acacia] doesn't want to own just the SUV, [they] want to own every single automobile and stereo system in the world, to use [their] contorted analogy."
