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 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
