Newport Beach-based patent storehouse Acacia Research said today that it has named Matthew Vella as President of the firm. Vella has been at Acacia Research Group since 2006, and has been serving as Executive Vice President since October of last year. Prior to Acacia, Vella had served at ATI Research and Nortel Networks. Acacia owns a significant storehouse of patents, which it aggressively licenses to other companies.