EchoStar Claims New PVR Software Doesn’t Violate TiVo Patents
Claiming to have developed PVR software with “no precedent,” Dish Network and EchoStar sued TiVo on Friday. They asked a federal court to find that their satellite receivers/PVRs don’t infringe the so-called time-warp patent.
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The suit in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del., seeks to kill recent TiVo claims that Dish Networks satellite receiver/PVRs still infringe a patent describing a way to move compressed digital multimedia programs to a storage device in a set-top box, Dish said. The method lets users pause, fast forward and rewind live TV programs. TiVo statements to media and at investor conferences are causing “uncertainly” in the PVR market, Dish Networks said. TiVo hasn’t seen a copy of the suit, a spokesman said, and it had no other comment. But with TiVo’s separate suit against Dish sent back to a federal court in Texas in April, TiVo “remains confident of the outcome,” the spokesman said.
Dish Network began developing new PVR software soon after a federal jury found in April 2006 that its satellite receivers/PVRs infringed the time-warp patent, awarding TiVo $74 million in damages, Dish said. That sum, with interest and royalties, now is about $100 million. TiVo originally sued EchoStar in 2004.
The new Dish Network PVR technology doesn’t process incoming broadcast data in memory before storing it, Dish said. Rather, it puts uncompressed programming data directly into a hard drive or similar storage device, it said. After storing data, the PVR uses “statistical and probability” algorithms to search for the information, Dish said. EchoStar began deploying the new technology in October 2006, it said.
A hearing was set for Friday in federal court in Texas regarding enforcement of a permanent injunction barring Dish from selling satellite receivers/PVRs that infringe TiVo patents. The hearing also was to cover damages for the time the jury award was on hold. The outcome of the hearing wasn’t available at our deadline. In January, the U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit upheld a lower court decision that the Dish Network device violated the time warp patent. It also affirmed the $74 million jury award and rejected a request for a rehearing. - Mark Seavy