Received one of those Acacia notices...it's informative and nothing
more. It was sent via bulk mail; note the signature on the notice is a
faux signature.
It's so obvious they just obtained a list of names from some sponsors
to send notices to...the adult sites I manage have NEVER contained any
streaming media of any kind nor ever directly linked to any such
content.
Surely they're not suggesting that standard HTML (ie. the A HREF link
tag) itself is supposedly a patent violation too? Are they? If so then
I guess the W3C group got a mountain of Acacia letters too :-?
Anyways, these are the following sponsors to AVOID ... one or more of
them GAVE private information about webmasters to Acacia:
If you have an affiliate account with of the following sponsors
consider canceling them since, according to the letter I received, they
settled with Acacia - and one or more of them appears to have provided
Acacia with private webmaster information:
Sponsors to AVOID:
* Hustler - not sure if they have an affiliate program anymore?
* IGallery / SmartBucks - doesn't appear they shared their affiliate
list? But still...
* CE Cash / Cybererotica - read reports these folks shared their
affiliate lists.
* Sexcheck AVS - owned by Dellwood Holdings...that company name seems
awfully familiar...do they own any other sponsors?
* Platinum Bucks - may have shared their affiliate list?
On an aside, I'm curious whether webmasters who ultimately get sued by
Acacia have any legal avenue against those sponsors that settled with
Acacia and yet continue to run affiliate programs without disclosing
Acacia patents; even those that have public disclosures, not sure that
protects them if they allow affiliates to join without requiring them
to sign a patent license agreement first with Acacia...
...My hunch tells me sponsors who settled with Acacia better hope none
of their affiliate webmasters get sued...some of those webmasters may
come back with legal action against the sponsors; or take other
unrelated actions, since many adult sponsors are very vulnerable in
numerous legal areas.
There are likely numerous other sponsors that have settled with Acacia
and so it may not be practical for all webmasters, who send adult
oriented traffic, to avoid all of them, but it's best to avoid as many
of the above listed sponsors as possible - especially for new folks
considering any of them ... once you signup with any of the above
listed sponsors, expect trouble!
Ron

Received one of those Acacia notices...it's informative and nothing
more. It was sent via bulk mail; note the signature on the notice is a
faux signature.
It's so obvious they just obtained a list of names from some sponsors
to send notices to...the adult sites I manage have NEVER contained any
streaming media of any kind nor ever directly linked to any such
content.
Surely they're not suggesting that standard HTML (ie. the A HREF link
tag) itself is supposedly a patent violation too? Are they? If so then
I guess the W3C group got a mountain of Acacia letters too :-?
Anyways, these are the following sponsors to AVOID ... one or more of
them GAVE private information about webmasters to Acacia:
If you have an affiliate account with of the following sponsors
consider canceling them since, according to the letter I received, they
settled with Acacia - and one or more of them appears to have provided
Acacia with private webmaster information:
Sponsors to AVOID:
* Hustler - not sure if they have an affiliate program anymore?
* IGallery / SmartBucks - doesn't appear they shared their affiliate
list? But still...
* CE Cash / Cybererotica - read reports these folks shared their
affiliate lists.
* Sexcheck AVS - owned by Dellwood Holdings...that company name seems
awfully familiar...do they own any other sponsors?
* Platinum Bucks - may have shared their affiliate list?
On an aside, I'm curious whether webmasters who ultimately get sued by
Acacia have any legal avenue against those sponsors that settled with
Acacia and yet continue to run affiliate programs without disclosing
Acacia patents; even those that have public disclosures, not sure that
protects them if they allow affiliates to join without requiring them
to sign a patent license agreement first with Acacia...
...My hunch tells me sponsors who settled with Acacia better hope none
of their affiliate webmasters get sued...some of those webmasters may
come back with legal action against the sponsors; or take other
unrelated actions, since many adult sponsors are very vulnerable in
numerous legal areas.
There are likely numerous other sponsors that have settled with Acacia
and so it may not be practical for all webmasters, who send adult
oriented traffic, to avoid all of them, but it's best to avoid as many
of the above listed sponsors as possible - especially for new folks
considering any of them ... once you signup with any of the above
listed sponsors, expect trouble!
Ron

I dont see how they still pursue this. Almost all the major players in
Broadcast Radio battled over this and won. So now they try and pick on the
Adult sites. Also if its not hosted on your server your not streaming it.