TiVo Patent Case Against EchoStar Begins This Week
A big event is about to begin this week that may go down in TiVo history. TiVo’s lawsuit against EchoStar Communications (Dish Network) for patent violations will start in Texas. The lawsuit could mean millions of dollars for TiVo if they win.
In the suit, TiVo claims that EchoStar violated a TiVo patent for a Multimedia Time Warping System. While this sounds like something out of Star Trek, it’s basically a patent on any device or system that allows a user to store a broadcast television program while simultaneously watching another television program — in other words, watching one TV show while recording another.
If TiVo wins this lawsuit, they could be awarded millions of dollars to compensate for lost license fees. This would also open the door for TiVo to go after any company that makes a DVR or PVR device for license fees. They probably won’t do this, but they will use this as leverage with all of the Cable companies to get licensing deals for the TiVo software similar to the deal they already have with Comcast.
It will be interesting to watch this case as it progresses — not only could it mean a nice influx of cash for TiVo, it could also mean that we would see TiVo software everywhere — a definite victory for DVR users!
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