On Friday, Dish Network and EchoStar filed a lawsuit against TiVo that claims that Dish and EchoStar’s new digital video recorder (DVR) technology does not infringe on TiVo’s patent.
“Today, Dish Network and EchoStar filed a lawsuit against TiVo asking a Delaware court to find that our new DVR software does not infringe TiVo’s ‘389 patent,” Dish Network and EchoStar said in a statement. “The lawsuit is in response to TiVo’s continued public statements that our new DVR software infringes. This action is independent of TiVo’s anticipated motion for contempt in the Eastern District of Texas. We believe any contempt motion by TiVo should be denied because we are in full compliance with the injunction.”
In January, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., ruled that Dish Network infringed on TiVo’s patent for DVRs and that Dish Network has to pay $74 million in damages.
The three-judge appeals court panel agreed with a lower court’s decision that DVRs distributed by Dish, which was known as EchoStar Communications until late last year, infringed on the software elements of TiVo’s patent.
TiVo sued EchoStar in 2004 for infringement on TiVo’s “time warp” technology that allows DVR users to pause live television. The function allows viewers to watch one program while recording another.
In April, an appeals court denied Dish’s request for the judges to hear additional arguments related to the patent dustup.
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