Tivo vs. Echostar ruling delayed
The seemingly never ending squabble between TiVo and Echostar over TiVo’s DVR patented “Time Warp” technology was further delayed this week by a federal judge in Texas who has delayed his decision on until as late as November.
In August 2006, a jury finding found Echostar liable for infringing on TiVo’s patented “Time Warp” technology which allows viewing of one program while recording another. It was ordered that Echostar disable their infringing DVR systems within 30 days and TiVo was initially awarded $90 million in damages.
Echostar appealed the decision, and was granted a stay of the injunction until the appeal could be heard. In early 2008, the appeal was upheld in part, including the awarded damages.
TiVo asserts that they are owed up to an additional $220 million in royalties and lost profits from the 18 month delay caused by the appeals process. Echostar disputes this, claiming that they had created a “work-around” in their DVR software which allowed them to continue selling their DVR systems while no longer infringing on TiVo’s patents. The heart of the matter now is for the federal court to decide on if the Echostar “work around” does indeed solve the patent infringement and deciding on an amount of additional damages caused by the appeals process.
If the federal court is unmoved by Echostar’s claim that its DVR software no longer utilize TiVo’s patented technology, they may be forced to license the technology from TiVo, or else they will be forced to shut down millions of customers DVR systems, which would cripple Dish Network’s subscriber base.
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