RiseStar
June 8th, 2006, 11:00 PM
In late may it was learned that Tivo had filed an injunction against Echostar in a bid to have the satellite giant discontinue its DVR functionality. This comes on the heels of a court decision favoring Tivo in its patent dispute case against Echostar.
Tivo's injunction seeks to stop Echostar from manufacturing or selling new DVR systems to customers, but it does not seek to shut down the 190 000 existing customers using them.
The same Texas U.S. District Court Judge that favored Tivo in its earlier decision is considering the injunction. Also under consideration is a final determination of damages owed to Tivo for the patent violation.
Further muddling the case is the US Patent office's rejection of some of Tivo's claims. Echostar is seeking to use these to block the injunction. Tivo is disputing this, stating that most of its patent claims have been upheld, including the 2 that the U.S. District Court ruled that Echostar had infringed upon. In all, 61 patent claims were under review by the U.S. Patent office.
The April decision favoring Tivo's claims determined that Echostar willfully infringed Tivo's "time-warp" patent, which controls the way a DVR simultaneously records one program while playing back another. The jury awarded Tivo $74 million, however because it was an intentional violation, that award could double or even triple.
If the injunction is successful, Echostar will be forced to stop all sales of DVR systems and either re-engineer them to remove the features that infringe on Tivo's patents, or work out a licensing agreement with Tivo for use of the patents.
The decision is expected to be released later this month.
Tivo's injunction seeks to stop Echostar from manufacturing or selling new DVR systems to customers, but it does not seek to shut down the 190 000 existing customers using them.
The same Texas U.S. District Court Judge that favored Tivo in its earlier decision is considering the injunction. Also under consideration is a final determination of damages owed to Tivo for the patent violation.
Further muddling the case is the US Patent office's rejection of some of Tivo's claims. Echostar is seeking to use these to block the injunction. Tivo is disputing this, stating that most of its patent claims have been upheld, including the 2 that the U.S. District Court ruled that Echostar had infringed upon. In all, 61 patent claims were under review by the U.S. Patent office.
The April decision favoring Tivo's claims determined that Echostar willfully infringed Tivo's "time-warp" patent, which controls the way a DVR simultaneously records one program while playing back another. The jury awarded Tivo $74 million, however because it was an intentional violation, that award could double or even triple.
If the injunction is successful, Echostar will be forced to stop all sales of DVR systems and either re-engineer them to remove the features that infringe on Tivo's patents, or work out a licensing agreement with Tivo for use of the patents.
The decision is expected to be released later this month.