TiVo Collects $105 Million From EchoStar
EchoStar Pays Up After Supreme Court Declines Request to Review Infringement Ruling
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 10/9/2008 7:32:00 AM EDT
TiVo said it received $104.6 million from EchoStar on Oct. 8, after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a lower court’s ruling that the satellite operator had infringed one of the DVR maker’s patents.
TiVo said the $104,600,472 from EchoStar included the initial $74 million in damages awarded by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, after the satellite company was found to have infringed TiVo’s “Time Warp” patent for DVR controls, plus interest and supplemental damages accrued through Sept. 8, 2006.
The companies are still awaiting a decision from the Texas court on TiVo’s request to hold EchoStar and Dish Network in contempt for not disabling its DVR functionality as previously ordered under the court’s permanent injunction. The judge in the case said he would try to rule by Oct. 1 but indicated a decision could come as late as November.
In a statement Thursday, TiVo said, “We remain confident that the District Court will enforce the injunction and award further damages from EchoStar's continued infringement of our Time Warp patent."
Dish and EchoStar, in a joint statement earlier this week, reiterated their position that the satellite operator's updated DVR code does not infringe TiVo’s patent and that TiVo’s pending motion for contempt should be denied.
