Acacia Sues Nine Cos. for Patent Infringement

Acacia Research Corp.’s Acacia Media Technologies Corp. unit filed a patent-infringement suit Tuesday against nine MSOs and direct-broadcast satellite providers.

The suit -- filed in the District Court for the Northern District of California -- alleged infringement on Acacia’s “DMT” patent, which cover transmission and receipt of digital content via the Internet, cable, satellite and other means.

The companies named in the suit are Comcast Corp., Charter Communications Inc., DirecTV Inc., EchoStar Communications Corp., Boulder Ridge Cable TV, Central Valley Cable TV LLC, Seren Innovations Inc., Cox Communications Inc. and Cox-owned Hospitality Network Inc.

Acacia settled a similar suit against On Command Corp. last week.