MediaPost: Patent Depending: Today's Hearing Could Seal Fate Of Streaming Media

A company claiming to own patent rights over streaming media may see one of its major cases decided today. Acacia Technologies Group has been seeking licensing agreements from particularly weak-willed legal departments at institutions like state universities. Further establishing precedent that its patent might be considered valid by the industry, the company sued several pornography sites, hoping that a judgment against the judicially unpopular services would provide a legal precedent that might be used as a bludgeon in other license negotiations.

Acacia briefly forced one major pornography network to shut down in the fall, convincing a district court to issue an order that it then used to threaten the networks Internet service provider.