Acacia and Streaming Media

[randomaccuracy]

Been working on the internet now for about 4 years and tend to be quick at finding alternatives to coding or web browser problems. This one seems to be out of my league and I was hoping someone else may have an idea of how to work around the whole Streaming Media Acacia problem.

Short History: Acacia (based in Calif) bought a couple general and vague patents for the idea of streaming media (internet, tv, phone, etc). Mind you they do not have the patent to the technology used... just the idea. Within the last few years, they have threatened internet based companies into paying fees to use streaming media (in any form). Acacia started with the porn industry and is now going after Education... both fields that have one thing in common, no money for lawyers to fight back. Present day, Disney, Playboy and others have settled with Acacia and now pay a yearly fee to be able to use streaming media. (Note: I assume I left somethings out)

My Question:
Has anyone found or researched a way around the patents Acacia holds and still have some sort of streaming media...or at least an easy fast way for 56k users to view/hear video and audio without having to wait exhustingly long to download a complete file. We've been experimenting with .swf conversion, but honestly the .swf compression helps a bit but still has a nasty loading time on videos and audios over 2meg.

Until one of the big guys with all the $ fights Acacia on thier patents, it's starting to appear that us small businesses are left holding a terrible burden. Has anyone heard through the grapevine what Microsoft or Real is doing if anything?

Thanks for any help.

[toicontien]

Did a google news search fo acacia streaming media and came up with this article: EFF Seeks to Bust Net Patents (http://www.cbronline.com/currentnews/08903fb59d9563f280256e7d0032e041)

[randomaccuracy]

Thanks,
it sounds like it will take these guys a while before they start up any lawsuits against Acacia. It appears that this is a non-profit group so my guess is they have low funding and little power behind them, just the law on their side (as has been my experience working with non-profit "do-gooders") :) I'm still looking for a short-term solution, as I rationally believe in the long-term we'll be able to resort back to streaming media. So if anyone has any ideas, I'm still listening :)

Thank you

[toicontien]

Screw 'em. Seriously. It's not like someone can patent the idea of a faucet, so why is this any different? I'd like to see someone from Home Depot tell Moen they're going to get sued because Moen's faucets have hot and cold water nobs.