JENNA JAMESON SAYS ACACIA IS STUMBLING IN ITS ATTACK ON ADULT INDUSTRY WEBSITES
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA ” (June 23, 2004) – Leading adult star Jenna Jameson says Acacia Media Technologies has revealed a flaw in its effort to extract licensing fees from the adult industry for sending video over the Internet. Ms. Jameson and her company, ClubJenna, Inc., are part of a coalition of adult enterprises battling Acacia’s attempt to herd adult companies into a mandated class that could strip away the rights of companies who are not even involved in the ongoing lawsuit.
“We think Acacia has realized that its case against the Internet adult industry is failing, so it has decided to sue nine cable and satellite giants — including Comcast, Cox, Charter, DirectTV and Echostar — in a new attempt to extract millions of dollars in licensing fees,” says Ms. Jameson.
Newport Beach, Calif.-based Acacia alleged last week that major cable and satellite companies have infringed on five patents that Acacia says cover systems and methods of transmitting and receiving audio/visual content via the Internet, cable, satellite, and telephone systems. Acacia filed suit against the nine companies in U.S. District Court in San Francisco last week.
Earlier, Acacia asked the U.S. District Court Central District of California Southern Division to create a class action lawsuit against all adult Internet businesses. That lawsuit would take away the right for these companies to have a voice in the case, and at the same time could potentially force them to pay Acacia or shut down.
“Acacia is going after the adult industry because we are a politically incorrect group and an easy target,” says Ms. Jameson. “Through our efforts, Acacia has come to realize that its legal theory has stumbled and that it won’t succeed in lumping all adult companies into a single class. So it is now trying to grab what it can by going after the cable and satellite companies before the Court tells everyone what Acacia’s patents really cover. People in the adult industry should still be concerned because anything can happen in court. If Acacia somehow succeeds they will essentially be able to shut down or get a judgment against any company they accuse of violating their bogus patent claims.”
The Acacia patents relate generally to technology used to build, store, transmit and receive blocks of data over networks like the Internet, telephone, cable, and satellite systems. Attorneys for the adult industry defendants argue that the claims are not infringed and that “prior art” exists that predates the Acacia patents and makes them invalid. Last week, attorneys with the law firm of Fish & Richardson filed motions in Federal Court asking the judge in the case to deny Acacia’s request for an adult Internet “class,” and proposed a mechanism to streamline and swiftly end the complex legal proceedings Acacia have brought against more than a dozen adult Internet businesses.
