A Monday U.S. Supreme Court decision rejecting a bid by Dish Netw...
A Monday U.S. Supreme Court decision rejecting a bid by Dish Network to appeal a ruling in the TiVo suit shifts the legal battle back to a proposed injunction. Dish petitioned the court in August, arguing that the appeals…
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court decision would have a “significantly detrimental” effect on how patent infringement cases are litigated by barring defendants from introducing evidence of inconsistencies. Now Dish Networks must pay TiVo $104 million escrowed and to be released “in the next few days,” Dish said. The sum represents the $74 million a federal jury awarded TiVo in 2006 for patent infringement, plus interest. At the heart of the case is the so-called time warp patent that describes a way to move compressed digital multimedia programs to a storage device in a set-top box. The method lets users pause, fast forward and rewind live TV programs, while recording another program. U.S. District Judge David Folsom stayed an injunction pending the outcome of an appeals court decision. The appeals court ruled in February that Dish infringed software elements of TiVo DVR patents, but not those involving hardware. TiVo filed a motion for contempt, seeking to enforce an injunction that would bar Dish from selling satellite receivers/DVRs that infringe its patent. TiVo “remains confident” that Folsom will enforce the injunction and award more damages for Dish’s “continued infringement” of the time warp patent, TiVo said in a statement. Dish claimed to have developed DVR software “without precedent” that didn’t infringe the TiVo patent, deploying the software in October 2006, Dish said. Attorneys for TiVo and Dish argued motions for an injunction and contempt citation Sept. 4 before Folsom in U.S. District Court, Texarkana. A decision is pending.