October 20, 2004 12:50 PM PDT

Sex.com CEO joins fight against Acacia

By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News

Related Stories: Acacia steps up lawsuits against cable TV
September 13, 2004; Patent suits hit cable, satellite giants
June 15, 2004; Sex.com, VeriSign settle domain name suit
April 20, 2004; Patent scare hits streaming industry
February 6, 2003; Sex.com case turning dirty
August 13, 2002

Adult Web sites involved in a patent dispute with Acacia Research have gotten a boost from the owner of Sex.com, an aficionado of long-shot court battles.

Sex.com CEO Gary Kremen, who spent much of the last decade winning back his domain name from cybersquatters and then seeking damages for his loss, said he had donated $10,000 to a defense fund set up to help adult-media companies fend off legal challenges from Acacia, which claims to own the patent rights to any process that streams on-demand video over the Internet, cable TV and even satellite networks.

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