Acacia Technologies Expands Business Development and Engineering Teams

Business Wire, July 10, 2006

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- Acacia Research Corporation (Nasdaq:ACTG) (Nasdaq:CBMX) announced today that its Acacia Technologies group, a leader in technology licensing, has expanded its business development and engineering teams with the addition of three new vice presidents.

Joseph Lee, Vice President, Business Development.

Mr. Lee joins Acacia from Conexant Systems where he was Chief Intellectual Property Counsel. Prior to Conexant, Mr. Lee was Division IP Counsel for Gateway, Inc.'s Enterprise Division, and IP Counsel for Callaway Golf Company. He also practiced law at the IP law firm of Lyon & Lyon. Mr. Lee is a registered patent attorney and holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, and J.D. degree from the University of California Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law.

Jacob Hawley, Vice President, Engineering.

Mr. Hawley joins Acacia from Microsoft Corporation where he held the position of Architect. Prior to Microsoft he was CEO of TKO Software, Inc.; Vice President of Engineering at ASML, a leader in the manufacture of advanced technology for the semiconductor industry; Vice President of Engineering of Embedded Solutions; and Director of Engineering at Creative Labs.

Marc Booth, Vice President, Engineering.

Mr. Booth joins Acacia from Nicholas Laboratories, a privately held technology company owned by ex-Broadcom CEO, Dr. Henry Nicholas, III, where he was the Director of Systems Engineering. Previously Mr. Booth was Vice President of Engineering of In The Air Net; Senior Director Engineering of Powerwave Technologies; Vice President of Engineering and CTO of Comarco Wireless Technologies; and Vice President of Engineering, Sony Corporation. Mr. Booth holds a B.S. Physics, from the University of California Riverside and a MSEE degree from the University of Southern California.

Paul Ryan, Acacia's Chairman and CEO, commented, "Joseph Lee, Jacob Hawley and Marc Booth are great additions to our business development and engineering teams as we continue to grow our technology licensing business. Acacia's licensing success is creating more opportunities to partner with companies who want us to generate revenue from their patented technologies."

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 47 patent portfolios, which include U.S. patents and certain foreign counterparts, covering technologies used in a wide variety of industries including audio/video enhancement & synchronization, broadcast data retrieval, computer memory cache coherency, credit card fraud protection, database management, data encryption & product activation, digital media transmission (DMT(R)), digital video production, dynamic manufacturing modeling, enhanced Internet navigation, hearing aid ECS, image resolution enhancement, interactive data sharing, interactive television, laptop docking station connectivity, microprocessor enhancement, multi-dimensional bar codes, network data storage, resource scheduling, rotational video imaging, spreadsheet automation, user activated Internet advertising and web conferencing & collaboration software.

The CombiMatrix group is developing a platform technology to rapidly produce customizable arrays, which are semiconductor-based tools for use in identifying and determining the roles of genes, gene mutations and proteins. The CombiMatrix's group's technology has a wide range of potential applications in the areas of genomics, proteomics, biosensors, drug discovery, drug development, diagnostics, combinatorial chemistry, material sciences and nanotechnology.

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.