DirecTV starts peddling their new DVR this week, but in the long run will it be competition or commission for TiVo? If TiVo is able to prevail in defending their “time warp” patent versus Dish Network, with court proceedings beginning this week, they should be able to work out royalty arrangements with other DVR providers… in or out of court.
Rocky Mountain News says: The question of who owns the rights to technology that revolutionized the way people watch TV goes to trial this week in a Texas courtroom.
TiVo Inc. alleges that EchoStar Communications Corp., operator of the Dish Network satellite- television service, infringed on a patent central to digital-video recorders, devices that allow viewers to pause live TV and skip commercials.
At stake for Douglas County- based EchoStar are unspecified monetary damages and the risk that it might be forced to modify many of its receivers. That’s if the company is found liable for infringing on TiVo’s “time warp” patent, which allows viewers to record a program while replaying another. For TiVo, which pioneered the DVR technology – only to see satellite and cable companies create their own versions – the case could set a precedent as to whether it can sue other companies that have introduced competing products.
The trial has been delayed until March due to a courtroom scheduling gaffe.