Satellite : No Resolution In Texas (TiVo v EchoStar)

[rajuB4U]

TiVo v. EchoStar (or would that be DISH Network?) patent litigation carries on… The parties reconvened in Texas yesterday for a contempt hearing held at TiVo’s request. EchoStar DVR functionality has been found to infringe on TiVo’s patents. And instead of shutting down their units as court ordered, DISH applied a software update which they claim no longer infringes. Judge Folsom indicated he may rule this month, though his decision could come as late as November. At the very least, TiVo should see that initial $74 million award plus interest (at some point). So what’s currently in play is the legnth of time of continued infringement and what that equates to in terms of cold hard cash… TiVo says they’re owed an additional $220 million in “royalties and lost profits,” while EchoStar has calculated a $16 million payment. I’m no lawyer and I find myself prone to narcoleptic outages when delving deeper, so I can’t say if treble damages are still on the table. What I do know is that TiVo will be paid (something) and DISH Network competitor DirecTV will be offering TiVo services once again.