To recap: TiVo has sued Echostar for infringing on their “time warping” patent. After a delay last fall, the trial finally began about two weeks ago.
Echostar has focused their defense on Dish DVR’s technical variations (“media switch“) while TiVo has been playing the role of David (versus Goliath) and is seeking $87 million in damages — a number calculated from theoretical licensing fees and potential customers.
Arguments are complete and the jury will receive instructions from the judge tomorrow to begin their deliberations. Regardless of the outcome, you can bet there will be appeals… not to mention Echostar has pending litigation against TiVo.
Marshall News Messenger says: After nine days of mind-boggling technical testimony, both sides rested Tuesday in TiVo Inc.’s patent infringement lawsuit against EchoStar Communications Corp., owner of Dish Network. U. S. District Judge David Folsom dismissed the five-man, five-woman jury shortly before 3 p.m., instructing them to return 9 a.m. Thursday and “bring a sack lunch.”
Claiming its co-founder Jim Barton was the inventor of an affordable, easy-to-use digital video recorder (DVR), TiVo is seeking $87 million in lost sales and royalties from EchoStar. According to Barton’s testimony, he and TiVo co-founder Mike Ramsay contacted EchoStar executives early on in the hopes of working out a distribution deal similar to one which TiVo negotiated with DirecTV. Barton said he explained his product in detail to EchoStar engineers and, at their request, left a prototype DVR with them. And while they promised to return the television set-top box within a couple of days, Barton said he has not seen it since.
My favorite quote in the article is where the judge tells the jury to bring a sack lunch. Hopefully, deliberations won’t take too long. With an upcoming three day weekend, I have a funny feeling that jurors could be anxious to resolve this quickly. I’m not sure if the TiVo jury will come in on Friday, but I know that it’s a halfday for all TX state departments and agencies.