DISH Loses Another Round With TiVo
DISH Network was dealt another legal blow Friday, with the U.S. Court of Appeals denying the company’s request to rehear its patent dispute case instigated by TiVo.
The ruling, witch found DISH violated TiVo’s software patents, but let DISH off the hook on the hardware side, came down January 31st of this year. DISH was basically seeking a do-over on the software part of the appeal. The company claimed a TiVo expert witness contradicted himself during testimony, thus making the ruling unfair.
The court battle, now going on for years, may finally be reaching a resolution point. But not before DISH makes one last legal maneuver. The satellite television provider has promised to reach out to the U.S. Supreme Court in a last ditch appeal. DISH is probably on the hook for more than $100 million dollars, as the original judgment was for nearly $74 million, and interest has been accruing on the judgment.
DISH Network recently stated during a conference call that it had already set aside money to satisfy the judgment if it came to paying up. That could be very soon, as chances are slim that the Supreme Court will hear the case. Also at stake is the DVR functionality of current DISH customers.
While DISH Network has reiterated several times that it has already deployed newer DVR software to customers that does not infringe the TiVo patent, the courts may see things differently. While the chances of a court-ordered shutdown of DishDVR’s may be slim, TiVo may have the option of pursuing additional royalty payments.
by Aaron Kemp on April 13, 2008
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tagged as Dish Network, dvr, lawsuit, supreme court, tivo in Dish Network
