EXHIBIT 99.2
ACACIA
RESEARCH
CORPORATION
CONTACTS: Rob Stewart
Investor Relations
FOR RELEASE Tel (949) 480-8300
- ----------- Fax (949) 480-8301
January 31, 2005 Email:rs@acaciares.com
ACACIA TECHNOLOGIES
NAMES EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
Newport Beach, CA. - (BUSINESS WIRE) January 31, 2005 - Acacia
Research Corporation (Nasdaq: ACTG: CBMX) announced today that it's Acacia
Technologies group has promoted Robert Berman to Chief Operating Officer, and
that Dooyong Lee, formerly Chief Operating Officer of Global Patent Holdings,
has joined the company as Executive Vice President, Business Development.
"Robert Berman's promotion reflects his outstanding contributions to
Acacia and the new position anticipates the growth in our business resulting
from the acquisition of the rights to 27 new patent portfolios from Global
Patent Holdings," said Paul Ryan, Chairman & CEO of Acacia.
Mr. Berman, who has managed Acacia's patent acquisition, licensing
and enforcement efforts over the past 4 years, joined Acacia in 2000, was named
Senior Vice President, Business Development and General Counsel in 2001, and was
named Executive Vice President in 2003. Prior to joining Acacia, Mr. Berman had
extensive licensing and business development experience with media technology
companies and held the position of Director of New Business Development at
National Media Corporation from 1997 to 1998 and at QVC from 1993 - 1997. He
practiced law at the Philadelphia law firm of Blank, Rome, Comisky and McCauley
from 1989 to 1993. Mr. Berman received a B.S. from the University of
Pennsylvania's Wharton School, and a J.D. from Northwestern Law School.
"Dooyong Lee has over 20 years of experience in patent licensing and
technology management with a long track record of success. Since joining Global
as their COO in May 2003, he has been responsible for business development and
has achieved exceptional results acquiring the rights to 20 new patent
portfolios consisting of 81 patents, all of which are included in the
acquisition from Global. His extensive experience in both patent licensing and
business development will be instrumental in the continued growth of our
company," concluded Mr. Ryan.
Prior to Global, Mr. Lee was President of LPS Group, a patent
licensing company he founded in early 2001 as a division of Information Holdings
Inc. (now part of The Thomson Corporation, NYSE: TOC), that achieved
profitability in less than two years. Prior to LPS Group, he co-founded FRI, an
intellectual property consulting firm under the sponsorship of Fish & Richardson
PC, and helped major corporations worldwide establish and manage patent
licensing organizations and also negotiated patent licenses for corporate and
individual clients. Prior to FRI, he was a licensing executive at AT&T Bell
Laboratories/Lucent Technologies, where he was responsible for developing new
business as well as licensing long distance carriers and voicemail vendors, and
spearheaded major process re-engineering efforts for the 260-person intellectual
property organization. Mr. Lee received a B.A. from Oberlin College and an M.S.
from the University of California at Berkeley. He holds six U.S. patents and is
the inventor of the popular telemarketing feature that provides expected waiting
time announcements to incoming callers.
ABOUT ACACIA RESEARCH CORPORATION
Acacia Research Corporation comprises two operating groups, Acacia Technologies
group and CombiMatrix group.
The Acacia Technologies group develops, acquires, and licenses patented
technologies. Acacia controls 29 patent portfolios, which include 126 U.S.
patents, and certain foreign counterparts, covering technologies used in a wide
variety of industries. Acacia's Digital Media Transmission (DMT(R)) technology
relates to transmission and receiving systems commonly known as video-on-demand,
and audio/video streaming, and is used for distributing digital content via
several means including Internet, cable, satellite and wireless systems.
The CombiMatrix group is developing a platform technology to rapidly produce
customizable active biochips, which are semiconductor-based tools for use in
identifying and determining the roles of genes, gene mutations and proteins.
CombiMatrix's technology has a wide range of applications including DNA
synthesis/diagnostics, drug discovery, and immunochemical detection.
CombiMatrix's Express Track(sm) drug discovery program is a systems biology
approach, using its technology, to target common viral diseases with siRNA
compounds.
Acacia Research-Acacia Technologies (Nasdaq: ACTG) and Acacia
Research-CombiMatrix (Nasdaq: CBMX) are both classes of common stock issued by
Acacia Research Corporation and are intended to reflect the performance of the
respective operating groups and are not issued by the operating groups.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE ACACIA TECHNOLOGIES GROUP AND THE COMBIMATRIX GROUP IS
AVAILABLE AT WWW.ACACIARESEARCH.COM.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the
"safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These statements are based upon our current expectations and speak only as
of the date hereof. Our actual results may differ materially and adversely from
those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors
and uncertainties, including the recent economic slowdown affecting technology
companies, our ability to successfully develop products, rapid technological
change in our markets, changes in demand for our future products, legislative,
regulatory and competitive developments and general economic conditions. Our
Annual Report on Form 10-K, recent and forthcoming Quarterly Reports on Form
10-Q, recent Current Reports on Forms 8-K and 8-K/A, and other SEC filings
discuss some of the important risk factors that may affect our business, results
of operations and financial condition. We undertake no obligation to revise or
update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.