Litigation Leaves TiVo Richer

An Echostar Judgement left TiVo 104 million richer. TiVo got this payment from Dish Network (previously Echostar) over patent violation. The patent was over Digital Video Recorders. The filing was made with the SEC. 74 million of the damage was for initial damages which were awarded by the United States district court over the period from September 8 2006. The payment included interest.

The Supreme Court had refused to change the judgement which went against Dish Network earlier in the week. The satellite broadcasters appeal was denied without comment. It was decided by the law that the DVR’s distributed by Dish had violated the software elements of TiVo’s patent. Dish had not infringed on the hardware of TiVo according to the courts.
In 2004 TiVo had sued alleging that Echostar had infringed upon TiVo’s patent. The technology in question allowed you to view one program while recording another. Dish was ordered to shut down the 3 mn DVR’s used by their customers. Due to the payment, the amount of cash and cash equivalents with TiVo has doubled.

So a final judgement has been reached on the case which has taken a number of years to see a conclusion