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TiVo/DISH Case Faces Additional Court Time
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The federal court handling the ongoing TiVo/DISH Network litigation has pushed the case into 2009, scheduling a bench trial on the matter for Feb. 17-18.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas is considering whether DISH/EchoStar is in contempt for alleged violation of a court's injunction concerning DVR technology found in a number of DISH receivers. At issue is whether DISH's DVRs and the software "workaround" contained in the receivers continue to infringe TiVo's patents.
Prior to the February date, the court will take disclosures from TiVo at the end of December and from DISH/EchoStar at the start of January. Additional materials must be submitted to the court on Feb. 10, stated the court document.
The Texas federal court sided with TiVo in its patent infringement case filed against DISH, and that lower court decision was upheld at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.
Though it appears the case is far from over, DISH claimed a small victory with the court document handed down late Thursday.
"We are pleased that the district court did not find us in contempt on the face of the injunction. We look forward to the February bench trial on our software design-around. Our subscribers can continue using their award-winning DVRs from DISH Network," the company said in a statement.
In its response, TiVo said it is happy the court has scheduled a hearing on EchoStar's workaround. Also, "Contrary To EchoStar's statement, the court did not rule on TiVo's pending motion for contempt of the injunction. The court will do so after the hearing as well as rule on the amount of damages owed to TiVo beyond the nearly $105 million already paid by EchoStar."
TiVo added, "This is a positive step, particularly the accelerated discovery ordered by the court, towards the ultimate resolution of all issues in the litigation and we remain confident that we will prevail in showing that EchoStar's workaround does not avoid infringement."
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The federal court handling the ongoing TiVo/DISH Network litigation has pushed the case into 2009, scheduling a bench trial on the matter for Feb. 17-18.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas is considering whether DISH/EchoStar is in contempt for alleged violation of a court's injunction concerning DVR technology found in a number of DISH receivers. At issue is whether DISH's DVRs and the software "workaround" contained in the receivers continue to infringe TiVo's patents.
Prior to the February date, the court will take disclosures from TiVo at the end of December and from DISH/EchoStar at the start of January. Additional materials must be submitted to the court on Feb. 10, stated the court document.
The Texas federal court sided with TiVo in its patent infringement case filed against DISH, and that lower court decision was upheld at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.
Though it appears the case is far from over, DISH claimed a small victory with the court document handed down late Thursday.
"We are pleased that the district court did not find us in contempt on the face of the injunction. We look forward to the February bench trial on our software design-around. Our subscribers can continue using their award-winning DVRs from DISH Network," the company said in a statement.
In its response, TiVo said it is happy the court has scheduled a hearing on EchoStar's workaround. Also, "Contrary To EchoStar's statement, the court did not rule on TiVo's pending motion for contempt of the injunction. The court will do so after the hearing as well as rule on the amount of damages owed to TiVo beyond the nearly $105 million already paid by EchoStar."
TiVo added, "This is a positive step, particularly the accelerated discovery ordered by the court, towards the ultimate resolution of all issues in the litigation and we remain confident that we will prevail in showing that EchoStar's workaround does not avoid infringement."
