TiVo-Dish Patent Scrap Continues
Dish Network, EchoStar Sue TiVo in Patent-Infringement Dispute
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/30/2008 11:43:00 AM
The battle between TiVo and Dish Network over the latter's set-tops with digital-video recorders continues to rage.
On Friday, Dish and EchoStar filed a suit against TiVo in a Delaware court asking it to find that Dish’s new DVR software does not infringe on TiVo’s patent. EchoStar said the suit was in response to public statements by TiVo that the software did infringe.
Dish has been doing a lot of business with its lawyers lately. It said last month that it was going to the Supreme Court to appeal a lower-court decision granting TiVo $94 million in damages in the patent fight over Dish’s DVR and enjoining it from using that infringing DVR. That move to enlist the Supremes came after its appeal of the lower-court decision was denied.
EchoStar said it also expected TiVo to file a motion of contempt against it in the same Texas court that found for TiVo in the patent suit, but it should be denied because its new DVR does not infringe. "We are in full compliance with the injunction," it said Friday.
“We have not seen EchoStar’s filing so we can’t comment on it," said a Tivo spokesman. "However, these issues are in front of the District Court in Texas and we remain confident in the outcome.”
