Tech Policy & Law News

TiVo brings the time-shifting fight to AT&T, Verizon

By Tim Conneally | Published August 27, 2009, 10:46 AM

TiVo has been in a legal battle with Dish Network and its former parent company EchoStar for more than four years over the design of their digital video recorders (DVR), which TiVo claims are patent-infringing. Now, the company has challenged Verizon and AT&T for the designs of their FiOS and U-verse DVRs.

Yesterday, TiVo filed complaints in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas for infringement of the same three patents that Dish Network allegedly infringed upon back in 2005. The complaints seek damages for past infringement and permanent injunctions on the infringing hardware.

One of the patents in the complaint, casually referred to as the "Time Warp Patent," has been under review by the US Patent and Trademark office for the case against Dish Network and EchoStar. Yesterday, Dish said it believes this review will result in "a Final Office Action invalidating the software claims of TiVo's patent. These software claims are the very same claims that EchoStar was found to have infringed in the contempt ruling now pending on appeal." 

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classicvibe
Aug 27, 2009 - 3:13 PM

Wtf is a time warp patent

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Gosh Dangit
Aug 27, 2009 - 2:39 PM

Interesting. Verizon and Comcast both use the exact same Motorola converter boxes that have the infringing hardware in them. I'm surprised that Verizon wasn't willing to make a deal with TiVo to have TiVo software installed on their converter boxes like Comcast did.

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ckought
Aug 30, 2009 - 7:01 PM

I thought the problem was with the software, not the hardware. Comcast has TiVo software in it, so therefore it's not infringing.

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